Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.176 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
The sons of the R̥bhus, flaming ones, their rounds resound aloft with bellowing cry— they who draw forth all sustenance, and feast upon the earth and sky as one would milk a mother cow.
Bring ye forth the god Jātavedas, with sight god-given and pure; he shall bear our gifts in rightful wise, each in its due and hallowed turn.
Lo, this Hotar, seeker of the gods, is led to the rite with holy aim.
Adorned as the wain of a wayfarer, he draweth near in splendor, aglow with sacred fire, showing forth his very self.
This Agni bringeth himself forth from birth undying, as from beyond all change.
Stronger than strength, the god was shaped for life everlasting.
Colophon
This hymn is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation are to be documented during audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda X.176
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
pra sūnava ṛbhūṇām bṛhan navanta vṛjanā |
kṣāmā ye viśvadhāyaso 'śnan dhenuṁ na mātaram || 1 ||
pra devaṁ devyā dhiyā bharatā jātavedasam |
havyā no vakṣad ānuṣak || 2 ||
ayam u ṣya pra devayur hotā yajñāya nīyate |
ratho na yor abhīvṛto ghṛṇīvāñ cetati tmanā || 3 ||
ayam agnir uruṣyaty amṛtād iva janmanaḥ |
sahasaś cit sahīyān devo jīvātave kṛtaḥ || 4 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
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