Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.86 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.
Indra spoketh:
For they have ceased from pressing the soma, and left off the worship of Indra as a god, in those places where my fellow Vṛṣākapi was gladdened with the stranger’s dainties.
Above all, Indra!
Yet Indrāṇī, swift with tongue and proud of place, reproached him:
Yet thou, O Indra, though thou flee far— even beyond Vṛṣākapi’s wild wanderings— canst find no other place fit for thy soma-draught.
Above all, Indra!
Then quoth Indra, his brow unwrinkled with care:
What harm hath this tawny brute, Vṛṣākapi, done thee— or to the stranger’s thriving store—that thou art wroth with him?
Above all, Indra!
But she, unyielding, gave back her scorn:
That dear Vṛṣākapi of thine, whom thou dost shield, O Indra— the boar-hound shall snap at his ear.
Above all, Indra!
With wrath unhidden, she cried further still:
The ape hath marred my comely, well-shaped, fair-trimmed privities.
I shall cleave his skull; I will not be gentle to a knavish clown.
Above all, Indra!
No woman boasts a fairer backside than I, nor more delight in the bed.
None thrusts back better, nor lifts her thighs more high.
Above all, Indra!
Now Vṛṣākapi, drunk with mirth, let fly his word:
Hark, good madam, thou easy romping sweet— I well ken how it shall go.
My rump, good madam, my thigh, my top—
all stir and leap for joy.
Above all, Indra!
Indra laughed, and said with mocking grace:
Why now, thou well-armed, deft-finger’d, broad-braided, broad-rump’d dame— why vexest thou our Vṛṣākapi so?
Above all, Indra!
She answered hotly, eyes ablaze:
This loathsome beast lays claim to me, as though I were without a man.
But I have a man, with Indra as my lord, and the storm-host as his band.
Above all, Indra!
Till now, the woman wouldst come humbly to the shared feast, or to the solemn throng; but now she is hallowed as Knower of Truth, as one who hath a hero, with Indra for her husband.
Above all, Indra!
I have heard of Indrāṇī as the most blessèd of wives— for never shall her husband fall to age or death.
Above all, Indra!
And Indra said, with love upon his tongue:
O Indrāṇī, I find no joy without my mate Vṛṣākapi, whose dear, wet gift goeth to the gods even now.
Above all, Indra!
He added then, full of promise:
O wife of Vṛṣākapi, rich in sons and fair daughters-in-law— Indra shall feast on thy kine and thy sweet gift which bringeth all things to pass.
Above all, Indra!
For they roast fifteen, yea, twenty kine at once for me, and I eat naught but the choicest fat— my cheeks they fill full.
Above all, Indra!
Like a bull with sharpen’d horn that ever belloweth in the herd, so the stirred soma—pressed by him who seeketh good— gladdeneth thy heart, O Indra.
Above all, Indra!
He is no master whose member hangeth limp between his thighs.
He is master, whose rod, once sat down,
maketh the hairy gate yawn wide.
Above all, Indra!
But Indrāṇī flung the words back with a sneer:
Nay, he is no master, whose rod so maketh the gate to yawn.
He is master whose shaft hangeth down unrisen.
Above all, Indra!
O Indra, thy Vṛṣākapi found a slain ass, a blade, a basket, a pot yet new, and a cart heap’d high with wood.
Above all, Indra!
He lifted his voice, keen-eyed and sharp of tongue:
Lo, I went forth with care, seeking and sundered between the Dāsa and the Ārya.
As I drank the draught of the guileless one, I sought out wisdom.
Above all, Indra!
How far off lie the wastes and clefts—
how many leagues away?
Vṛṣākapi, come back home, to the nearer stead.
Above all, Indra!
And Indrāṇī, now softened, called after him:
Come thou back again, Vṛṣākapi.
We twain shall smooth thy path, thou who goest as waker from sleep,
or as walker to thy doom.
Above all, Indra!
When thou, O Vṛṣākapi, O Indra, didst go up on high to thy home,
where was that beast of manifold sin?
To whom went the man-slayer?
Above all, Indra!
Manu’s own daughter, Parśu by name, was brought to bed of twenty sons at once— a happy fate, for she whose womb travailed sore.
Above all, Indra!
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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda X.86
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.
vi hi sotor asṛkṣata nendraṁ devam amaṁsata |
yatrāmadad vṛṣākapir aryaḥ puṣṭeṣu matsakhā viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 1 ||
parā hīndra dhāvasi vṛṣākaper ati vyathiḥ |
no aha pra vindasy anyatra somapītaye viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 2 ||
kim ayaṁ tvāṁ vṛṣākapiś cakāra harito mṛgaḥ |
yasmā irasyasīd u nv a1ryo vā puṣṭimad vasu viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 3 ||
yam imaṁ tvaṁ vṛṣākapim priyam indrābhirakṣasi |
śvā nv asya jambhiṣad api karṇe varāhayur viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 4 ||
priyā taṣṭāni me kapir vyaktā vy adūduṣat |
śiro nv asya rāviṣaṁ na sugaṁ duṣkṛte bhuvaṁ viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 5 ||
na mat strī subhasattarā na suyāśutarā bhuvat |
na mat praticyavīyasī na sakthy udyamīyasī viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 6 ||
uve amba sulābhike yathevāṅga bhaviṣyati |
bhasan me amba sakthi me śiro me vīva hṛṣyati viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 7 ||
kiṁ subāho svaṅgure pṛthuṣṭo pṛthujāghane |
kiṁ śūrapatni nas tvam abhy amīṣi vṛṣākapiṁ viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 8 ||
avīrām iva mām ayaṁ śarārur abhi manyate |
utāham asmi vīriṇīndrapatnī marutsakhā viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 9 ||
saṁhotraṁ sma purā nārī samanaṁ vāva gacchati |
vedhā ṛtasya vīriṇīndrapatnī mahīyate viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 10 ||
indrāṇīm āsu nāriṣu subhagām aham aśravam |
nahy asyā aparaṁ cana jarasā marate patir viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 11 ||
nāham indrāṇi rāraṇa sakhyur vṛṣākaper ṛte |
yasyedam apyaṁ haviḥ priyaṁ deveṣu gacchati viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 12 ||
vṛṣākapāyi revati suputra ād u susnuṣe |
ghasat ta indra ukṣaṇaḥ priyaṁ kācitkaraṁ havir viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 13 ||
ukṣṇo hi me pañcadaśa sākam pacanti viṁśatim |
utāham admi pīva id ubhā kukṣī pṛṇanti me viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 14 ||
vṛṣabho na tigmaśṛṅgo 'ntar yūtheṣu roruvat |
manthas ta indra śaṁ hṛde yaṁ te sunoti bhāvayur viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 15 ||
na seśe yasya rambate 'ntarā sakthyā3 kapṛt |
sed īśe yasya romaśaṁ niṣeduṣo vijṛmbhate viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 16 ||
na seśe yasya romaśaṁ niṣeduṣo vijṛmbhate |
sed īśe yasya rambate 'ntarā sakthyā3 kapṛd viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 17 ||
ayam indra vṛṣākapiḥ parasvantaṁ hataṁ vidat |
asiṁ sūnāṁ navaṁ carum ād edhasyāna ācitaṁ viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 18 ||
ayam emi vicākaśad vicinvan dāsam āryam |
pibāmi pākasutvano 'bhi dhīram acākaśaṁ viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 19 ||
dhanva ca yat kṛntatraṁ ca kati svit tā vi yojanā |
nedīyaso vṛṣākape 'stam ehi gṛhām̐ upa viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 20 ||
punar ehi vṛṣākape suvitā kalpayāvahai |
ya eṣa svapnanaṁśano 'stam eṣi pathā punar viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 21 ||
yad udañco vṛṣākape gṛham indrājagantana |
kva1 sya pulvagho mṛgaḥ kam agañ janayopano viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 22 ||
parśur ha nāma mānavī sākaṁ sasūva viṁśatim |
bhadram bhala tyasyā abhūd yasyā udaram āmayad viśvasmād indra uttaraḥ || 23 ||
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).
🌲