Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.2 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.
Please the gods, O youngest flame, for they long for the offering.
Thou, who knowest the steps of the rite, O lord of holy order—perform the sacrifice here.
Among the heavenly priests who move in the rhythm of the rite, thou, Agni, art chief among those who bear the fire.
Take up the charge of Hotar and of Potar, servant of the folk and voice of the offering.
Thou art the Setter of Thought and the Giver of Treasure, grounded in truth.
When the cry of svāhā is lifted and the gift cast to flame, let Agni himself, god among gods, offer to the divine— for he alone is meet to do so.
We have trod the path the gods have made, and press forward to carry the work as we are able.
Agni knoweth—he shall rightly serve the rite; he alone is the Hotar.
He shall order the offering; he shall walk the sacred course.
Yet if we, in our folly, stray from thy law, O ye gods—being but little wise—
Agni, who knoweth, shall yet set all aright.
With the holy steps he hath learned, he shall call forth the gods and seat them in their place.
And if men, witless and weak in skill, fail to tend the fire, and heed not the holy work, then shall Agni, the far-seeing priest, rouse his will and offer on their behalf— best among sacrificers, keeper of the sacred way.
For he was begotten as the face of all rites, the shining mark of the gods.
By sacrifice, let him win for the people of many lands the cattle-rich blessings, long sought and rightly shared.
Thou whom Heaven and Earth have shaped,
thou whom the Waters bore, thou whom Tvaṣṭar, the good maker, hath formed— thou who knowest the path that leadeth to the fathers— once kindled, shine forth, O Agni,
and let thy brightness reach to every quarter of the world.
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.2
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.
piprīhi devām̐ uśato yaviṣṭha vidvām̐ ṛtūm̐r ṛtupate yajeha |
ye daivyā ṛtvijas tebhir agne tvaṁ hotṝṇām asy āyajiṣṭhaḥ || 1 ||
veṣi hotram uta potraṁ janānām mandhātāsi draviṇodā ṛtāvā |
svāhā vayaṁ kṛṇavāmā havīṁṣi devo devān yajatv agnir arhan || 2 ||
ā devānām api panthām aganma yac chaknavāma tad anu pravoḻhum |
agnir vidvān sa yajāt sed u hotā so adhvarān sa ṛtūn kalpayāti || 3 ||
yad vo vayam pramināma vratāni viduṣāṁ devā aviduṣṭarāsaḥ |
agniṣ ṭad viśvam ā pṛṇāti vidvān yebhir devām̐ ṛtubhiḥ kalpayāti || 4 ||
yat pākatrā manasā dīnadakṣā na yajñasya manvate martyāsaḥ |
agniṣ ṭad dhotā kratuvid vijānan yajiṣṭho devām̐ ṛtuśo yajāti || 5 ||
viśveṣāṁ hy adhvarāṇām anīkaṁ citraṁ ketuṁ janitā tvā jajāna |
sa ā yajasva nṛvatīr anu kṣāḥ spārhā iṣaḥ kṣumatīr viśvajanyāḥ || 6 ||
yaṁ tvā dyāvāpṛthivī yaṁ tvāpas tvaṣṭā yaṁ tvā sujanimā jajāna |
panthām anu pravidvān pitṛyāṇaṁ dyumad agne samidhāno vi bhāhi || 7 ||
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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