Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.90 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.
The Man hath a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
Encompassing the earth on every side, he reached beyond it ten finger-breadths.
This Man alone is all the world—
both that which hath come to be and that which yet shall be.
He is the lord of deathless life, who through the food of this world, ascendeth beyond.
Such is the greatness of the Man—but greater still is he.
One fourth of him is all that liveth; three fourths abide above, undying in the heavens.
With his three parts he climbed aloft; the fourth part tarried here once more.
From thence he strode abroad, where things that eat and things that eat not dwell.
From him was Virāj brought forth, and from Virāj again the Man was born.
When he was born, he stretched beyond the earth, both behind and before.
When the gods made sacrifice with the Man as their gift, then spring was their melted butter, summer the firewood, autumn the offering laid down.
Upon the sacred grass they hallowed that firstborn Man; with him the gods gave sacrifice, the Sādhyas too, and seers of eld.
From that full offering the curdled fat was drawn— and it became the beasts: the ones of air, the wild, and those that dwell with men.
From that same rite, when wholly offered, were the hymns and chants brought forth; the measures rose from it, and the sacred words of power were born.
From it came horses, and all four-footed beasts that bear teeth in both jaws; from it were kine begotten, and goats and sheep likewise.
When they divided the Man, how many were the parts they made?
What was his mouth? what his two arms? what are named his thighs, his feet?
His mouth became the brahmin; his arms were made the lordly might; his thighs the free-born folk; from his feet the servant sprang.
From his mind came the moon, from his eye the shining sun; from his mouth were Indra and Agni born, and from his breath came the Wind.
Out of his navel sprang the mid-air; from his head the heavens unfolded; from his feet the earth was laid, and from his ears the quarters of the world. Thus were the worlds ordained.
Seven were the enclosing rods, and thrice seven the kindling sticks, when the gods, widening the rite, bound the Man as their beast for slaying.
With sacrifice the gods made sacrifice unto themselves—this was the ancient ground.
And its might was lifted up to the arch of heaven, where the gods of old and the Sādhyas abide.
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.90
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.
sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt |
sa bhūmiṁ viśvato vṛtvāty atiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam || 1 ||
puruṣa evedaṁ sarvaṁ yad bhūtaṁ yac ca bhavyam |
utāmṛtatvasyeśāno yad annenātirohati || 2 ||
etāvān asya mahimāto jyāyām̐ś ca pūruṣaḥ |
pādo 'sya viśvā bhūtāni tripād asyāmṛtaṁ divi || 3 ||
tripād ūrdhva ud ait puruṣaḥ pādo 'syehābhavat punaḥ |
tato viṣvaṅ vy akrāmat sāśanānaśane abhi || 4 ||
tasmād virāḻ ajāyata virājo adhi pūruṣaḥ |
sa jāto aty aricyata paścād bhūmim atho puraḥ || 5 ||
yat puruṣeṇa haviṣā devā yajñam atanvata |
vasanto asyāsīd ājyaṁ grīṣma idhmaḥ śarad dhaviḥ || 6 ||
taṁ yajñam barhiṣi praukṣan puruṣaṁ jātam agrataḥ |
tena devā ayajanta sādhyā ṛṣayaś ca ye || 7 ||
tasmād yajñāt sarvahutaḥ sambhṛtam pṛṣadājyam |
paśūn tām̐ś cakre vāyavyān āraṇyān grāmyāś ca ye || 8 ||
tasmād yajñāt sarvahuta ṛcaḥ sāmāni jajñire |
chandāṁsi jajñire tasmād yajus tasmād ajāyata || 9 ||
tasmād aśvā ajāyanta ye ke cobhayādataḥ |
gāvo ha jajñire tasmāt tasmāj jātā ajāvayaḥ || 10 ||
yat puruṣaṁ vy adadhuḥ katidhā vy akalpayan |
mukhaṁ kim asya kau bāhū kā ūrū pādā ucyete || 11 ||
brāhmaṇo 'sya mukham āsīd bāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥ |
ūrū tad asya yad vaiśyaḥ padbhyāṁ śūdro ajāyata || 12 ||
candramā manaso jātaś cakṣoḥ sūryo ajāyata |
mukhād indraś cāgniś ca prāṇād vāyur ajāyata || 13 ||
nābhyā āsīd antarikṣaṁ śīrṣṇo dyauḥ sam avartata |
padbhyām bhūmir diśaḥ śrotrāt tathā lokām̐ akalpayan || 14 ||
saptāsyāsan paridhayas triḥ sapta samidhaḥ kṛtāḥ |
devā yad yajñaṁ tanvānā abadhnan puruṣam paśum || 15 ||
yajñena yajñam ayajanta devās tāni dharmāṇi prathamāny āsan |
te ha nākam mahimānaḥ sacanta yatra pūrve sādhyāḥ santi devāḥ || 16 ||
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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