Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.178 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.
This prize-won by godspeed, he who overtaketh the chariot-host, whose wheel’s rim none may break, the fleet one who driveth unto war—
we call on Tārkṣya to come hither for our well-being.
We call again and again on his open hand, as one calleth upon Indra; we would board him as men board a boat, that he may bear us to good.
Ye twain, broad as the two wide worlds, full and deep— let no harm befall us from you, neither in our coming nor our going.
He who in one single day stretcheth himself over the five tribes by his great strength, as the sun spreadeth his beams over the waters— his is the charge that bringeth home thousands, yea, hundreds.
None may stay him, no more than they might stay a young arrow in flight.
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.178
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.
tyam ū ṣu vājinaṁ devajūtaṁ sahāvānaṁ tarutāraṁ rathānām |
ariṣṭanemim pṛtanājam āśuṁ svastaye tārkṣyam ihā huvema || 1 ||
indrasyeva rātim ājohuvānāḥ svastaye nāvam ivā ruhema |
urvī na pṛthvī bahule gabhīre mā vām etau mā paretau riṣāma || 2 ||
sadyaś cid yaḥ śavasā pañca kṛṣṭīḥ sūrya iva jyotiṣāpas tatāna |
sahasrasāḥ śatasā asya raṁhir na smā varante yuvatiṁ na śaryām || 3 ||
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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