Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.52 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.
Agni, newly seated, lifted his voice unto the heavens.
“O ye gods, who have set me here as Hotar, show me the way of this work ye have laid upon me.
Speak, I pray you—how shall I bear your portion?
By what path shall I carry your offering aright?”
He continued, his fire crackling with the weight of divine charge.
“I am set down as the better priest, the high sacrificer.
The gods, even the swift Maruts, drive me on.
Each day the twin riders, the Aśvins, take the work of the rite as their own.
The kindling-branch shapeth the mind of the rite; the butter flows out for the twain as offering.” Then a man, the sacrificer perhaps, wondered aloud by the fire, “This one—this Hotar—what is he to Yama, lord of the dead?
Whom do I truly call, when the gods themselves anoint him?
Lo, he is born each morning, each new moon sees his birth again.
Thus have the gods ever set him as bearer of their gift.”
Agni, with flame leaping high, spoke once more:
“Yes, the gods have fixed me as the bringer of their share— though I once slipped away, though I wandered sore affliction.
Yet now they say: ‘Agni, the one who knoweth, shall rightly guide the rite, fivefold in course, threefold in turn, and bound with seven threads.’”
“I shall bring you deathless life through sacrifice, a life made great with heroes and wide dominion.
I would place the mace in Indra’s grasp— and he shall win the wars of the world.” And the poet, watching all, gave voice to what was done:
“Three hundred, three thousand, and thirty and nine gods did honor to Agni.
They anointed him with ghee, laid holy grass beneath him— and so was he named Hotar.”
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.52
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.
viśve devāḥ śāstana mā yatheha hotā vṛto manavai yan niṣadya |
pra me brūta bhāgadheyaṁ yathā vo yena pathā havyam ā vo vahāni || 1 ||
ahaṁ hotā ny asīdaṁ yajīyān viśve devā maruto mā junanti |
ahar-ahar aśvinādhvaryavaṁ vām brahmā samid bhavati sāhutir vām || 2 ||
ayaṁ yo hotā kir u sa yamasya kam apy ūhe yat samañjanti devāḥ |
ahar-ahar jāyate māsi-māsy athā devā dadhire havyavāham || 3 ||
māṁ devā dadhire havyavāham apamluktam bahu kṛcchrā carantam |
agnir vidvān yajñaṁ naḥ kalpayāti pañcayāmaṁ trivṛtaṁ saptatantum || 4 ||
ā vo yakṣy amṛtatvaṁ suvīraṁ yathā vo devā varivaḥ karāṇi |
ā bāhvor vajram indrasya dheyām athemā viśvāḥ pṛtanā jayāti || 5 ||
trīṇi śatā trī sahasrāṇy agniṁ triṁśac ca devā nava cāsaparyan |
aukṣan ghṛtair astṛṇan barhir asmā ād id dhotāraṁ ny asādayanta || 6 ||
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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