Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.3 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.
Behold—the mighty wheel with many spokes, now newly kindled, doth show itself forth.
He cometh to ply his craft—he who is wild as Rudra, yet gently born, O king.
Watchful he glareth, casting his great beam abroad; and thrusting back the blackness of Night, he draweth nigh to bright-born Dawn.
When with his form he hath outmatched the speckled dark, and brought to birth the maiden child of Heaven— lo, the young Dawn, sprung from her lofty sire— then he lifteth up the shining of the sun.
Heaven’s wheeled flame blazeth out, wide as the Vasus.
The blessed male draweth near, hand in hand with his blessed bride; as her mate he cometh behind his sister.
Through fair-omened days, Agni spreadeth himself afar, outshining the night with his bright-born hues.
This one—Agni, our gentle friend and guest— his goings are like the flare of heavenly summons.
In the path of the high Bull, worthy of praise, the nights themselves gleam as beams from his fire.
His rays, like holy chants, cleanse themselves when the high one riseth, bringing in the goodly day.
He it is that climbeth to the heights of heaven, his beams keen, free in play, and supreme in brightness.
His breath is heard in rumbling, as he panteth forth, his wheel-rim showing clear as he runneth with his team.
He, chief among the gods, this wheel of far-flung blaze, spreadeth his age-old light in crackling fire.
Bring now some mighty boon to us, and take thy seat here, as the wheel betwixt Heaven and Earth, the twain ever-young.
May Agni draw near with driving force, his steeds strong-thrusting, his breath a storm, his spirit tempest-born.
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.3
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.
ino rājann aratiḥ samiddho raudro dakṣāya suṣumām̐ adarśi |
cikid vi bhāti bhāsā bṛhatāsiknīm eti ruśatīm apājan || 1 ||
kṛṣṇāṁ yad enīm abhi varpasā bhūj janayan yoṣām bṛhataḥ pitur jām |
ūrdhvam bhānuṁ sūryasya stabhāyan divo vasubhir aratir vi bhāti || 2 ||
bhadro bhadrayā sacamāna āgāt svasāraṁ jāro abhy eti paścāt |
supraketair dyubhir agnir vitiṣṭhan ruśadbhir varṇair abhi rāmam asthāt || 3 ||
asya yāmāso bṛhato na vagnūn indhānā agneḥ sakhyuḥ śivasya |
īḍyasya vṛṣṇo bṛhataḥ svāso bhāmāso yāmann aktavaś cikitre || 4 ||
svanā na yasya bhāmāsaḥ pavante rocamānasya bṛhataḥ sudivaḥ |
jyeṣṭhebhir yas tejiṣṭhaiḥ krīḻumadbhir varṣiṣṭhebhir bhānubhir nakṣati dyām || 5 ||
asya śuṣmāso dadṛśānapaver jehamānasya svanayan niyudbhiḥ |
pratnebhir yo ruśadbhir devatamo vi rebhadbhir aratir bhāti vibhvā || 6 ||
sa ā vakṣi mahi na ā ca satsi divaspṛthivyor aratir yuvatyoḥ |
agniḥ sutukaḥ sutukebhir aśvai rabhasvadbhī rabhasvām̐ eha gamyāḥ || 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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