Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.67 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 seven-crowned, keen-witted thought, begotten of truth and high of reach, our father found in days of eld.
The fourth thereof, the wild unheld, who bides with every man, did bring forth as he spake in solemn tones unto Indra’s name.
Speaking truth and thinking straight, the sons of heaven— those gallant souls of the Lord— the Aṅgirases, in kindled word, did mark the first laid ground of holy rite.
With fellows clamorous as geese, he loosed the fastenings wrought of stone; he bellowed to the kine.
Then Br̥haspati, wise in song, began the hymn and woke the lay.
Two gates beneath, and one aloft—
the kine lay hid, held fast in lies.
But Br̥haspati, in dark did seek the light, and brought the ruddy herd to rise, for he unsealed the threefold door.
The stronghold split from face to flank, the lairs laid bare with one fell stroke— he tore the dawn, the sun, the cow, from out the deep-held fount.
Br̥haspati, with heaven’s cry, did find the chant amidst the skies.
Indra cleft Vala, warder o'er the milk-maids, with a cry as keen as blade.
With comrades drenched in toil’s own dew, he made the miser shriek— and stole away the kine.
With fire-eyed friends, with spoilsmen bold, he sundered him who kept the herd.
The Lord of Holy Speech broke through, his bulls and boars a-sweat, striving toward the hoard.
With steadfast hearts they sued the herdsman for his kine, and bent him with their sharpen’d thoughts.
Then Br̥haspati did loose the ruddy ones, his yokefellows guarding each from blame.
With kindly thoughts we steel his arm, he roareth from his seat like lion-king.
We sing Br̥haspati the bull, who wins where champions strive,
and carries all in every raid.
When he won the shape of all things and rose to the height of heaven, to the thrones above,
Br̥haspati the bull we shall extol, and make him strong— though each of us brings forth the light of speech in his own kind.
Bring to pass our longing, the longing for strength bestowed, for thou upholdest even the weakling in thy fashion.
Let all who scorn us fall behind.
Ye twain—Heaven and Earth—who stir all things, give ear to this.
Indra, in his might, did cleave the crown of the flood, the head of Arbuda's deep.
He smote the serpent; he let loose the seven streams.
O Heaven and Earth, with all the gods, bear us forward.
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.67
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.
imāṁ dhiyaṁ saptaśīrṣṇīm pitā na ṛtaprajātām bṛhatīm avindat |
turīyaṁ svij janayad viśvajanyo 'yāsya uktham indrāya śaṁsan || 1 ||
ṛtaṁ śaṁsanta ṛju dīdhyānā divas putrāso asurasya vīrāḥ |
vipram padam aṅgiraso dadhānā yajñasya dhāma prathamam mananta || 2 ||
haṁsair iva sakhibhir vāvadadbhir aśmanmayāni nahanā vyasyan |
bṛhaspatir abhikanikradad gā uta prāstaud uc ca vidvām̐ agāyat || 3 ||
avo dvābhyām para ekayā gā guhā tiṣṭhantīr anṛtasya setau |
bṛhaspatis tamasi jyotir icchann ud usrā ākar vi hi tisra āvaḥ || 4 ||
vibhidyā puraṁ śayathem apācīṁ nis trīṇi sākam udadher akṛntat |
bṛhaspatir uṣasaṁ sūryaṁ gām arkaṁ viveda stanayann iva dyauḥ || 5 ||
indro valaṁ rakṣitāraṁ dughānāṁ kareṇeva vi cakartā raveṇa |
svedāñjibhir āśiram icchamāno 'rodayat paṇim ā gā amuṣṇāt || 6 ||
sa īṁ satyebhiḥ sakhibhiḥ śucadbhir godhāyasaṁ vi dhanasair adardaḥ |
brahmaṇas patir vṛṣabhir varāhair gharmasvedebhir draviṇaṁ vy ānaṭ || 7 ||
te satyena manasā gopatiṁ gā iyānāsa iṣaṇayanta dhībhiḥ |
bṛhaspatir mithoavadyapebhir ud usriyā asṛjata svayugbhiḥ || 8 ||
taṁ vardhayanto matibhiḥ śivābhiḥ siṁham iva nānadataṁ sadhasthe |
bṛhaspatiṁ vṛṣaṇaṁ śūrasātau bhare-bhare anu madema jiṣṇum || 9 ||
yadā vājam asanad viśvarūpam ā dyām arukṣad uttarāṇi sadma |
bṛhaspatiṁ vṛṣaṇaṁ vardhayanto nānā santo bibhrato jyotir āsā || 10 ||
satyām āśiṣaṁ kṛṇutā vayodhai kīriṁ cid dhy avatha svebhir evaiḥ |
paścā mṛdho apa bhavantu viśvās tad rodasī śṛṇutaṁ viśvaminve || 11 ||
indro mahnā mahato arṇavasya vi mūrdhānam abhinad arbudasya |
ahann ahim ariṇāt sapta sindhūn devair dyāvāpṛthivī prāvataṁ naḥ || 12 ||
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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