Hymn to Agni
Rigveda II.8 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 2 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, thou art the swift messenger of the gods! When we kindle thee upon the altar and pour forth our prayers into thy flame, thou ridest upward through the vault of heaven carrying our words on thy golden tongue. No prayer is too small for thy notice; no petition is too humble for thy care.
Swiftly thou movest through the three worlds — the earth below, the sky above, and the vast spaces between, wherein the gods themselves do dwell. In but a moment, thou carriest the mortal's humble offering to the throne of Indra himself. The distance that would take a man a thousand journeys to traverse, thou coveredest in the time it taketh for ghee to burn.
The gods attend to thy voice as they attend to no other. When Agni speaketh, saying "Thus prayeth thy devotee," the Aśvins harken. The Maruts lean down from their storm-clouds. Indra stretcheth forth his hand. Varuṇa stirreth in the waters. All heaven recognizeth thy authority and honoureth thy embassy.
Yet thou speakest not empty words. Thou carriest the very essence of the offering — the fragrance, the warmth, the sacred intention of the worshipper. When the butter riseth as smoke, it is thyself ascending, thyself bearing witness to the devotion below. Thou art both the message and the messenger, both the prayer and the answer.
O swift one, fly upward for us! Carry our hopes to the halls of immortality! Speak our praises before the assembled gods! Tell them of our faithfulness, our poverty, our desire for blessing. Be our advocate in the courts of heaven! Through thy swift flight, let our voices be heard even in the highest places where mortals can never tread.
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 II.8
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.
vājayann iva nū rathān yogām̐ agner upa stuhi |
yaśastamasya mīḻhuṣaḥ || 1 ||
yaḥ sunītho dadāśuṣe 'juryo jarayann arim |
cārupratīka āhutaḥ || 2 ||
ya u śriyā dameṣv ā doṣoṣasi praśasyate |
yasya vrataṁ na mīyate || 3 ||
ā yaḥ sva1r ṇa bhānunā citro vibhāty arciṣā |
añjāno ajarair abhi || 4 ||
atrim anu svarājyam agnim ukthāni vāvṛdhuḥ |
viśvā adhi śriyo dadhe || 5 ||
agner indrasya somasya devānām ūtibhir vayam |
ariṣyantaḥ sacemahy abhi ṣyāma pṛtanyataḥ || 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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