Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.15 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 3 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.
O Agni, shield of the righteous, ward off the rākṣasas that prowl in the darkness! The demons and the evil spirits do hunger for our homes, they do lust for our cattle and our children, they seek to pull down all that we have built with patient labor. But thou art our protector, our guardian most fierce!
Thy flame is a wall of fire that no demon can cross. The rākṣasas shriek in terror when they perceive thy brightness, for they are creatures of darkness and thy light doth pain them. They scatter like cowards before thy fury, they flee back to their distant lairs, they dare not come near any house where thy sacred fire is kindled.
Not only the rākṣasas do thou ward off, O mighty one! The sorceress and the sorcerer, those who would harm us through their dark arts, they too art powerless before thee. The evil eye that would curse our prosperity, the malevolent spells that would strike down our loved ones — all these thou consumest in thy holy flame.
And the subtle evils too art thou our defense against — the creeping despair that would steal into our hearts, the lies that would poison our councils, the doubt that would weaken our resolve. All these are but shadows, O Agni, and where thy light shineth there can be no shadow. Where thy warmth reacheth there can be no cold despair.
Therefore, O mighty protector, O fierce defender, we call upon thee! Kindle thyself within our homes, stand thou as guardian at the thresholds of our dwellings. Burn away all that would harm us, consume all that would debase us, keep us safe through the long nights and the dark seasons. For thou art our shield and our refuge, our fortress of light in a world beset by perils. Guard us well, O Agni, guard us well.
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 III.15
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 pājasā pṛthunā śośucāno bādhasva dviṣo rakṣaso amīvāḥ |
suśarmaṇo bṛhataḥ śarmaṇi syām agner ahaṁ suhavasya praṇītau || 1 ||
tvaṁ no asyā uṣaso vyuṣṭau tvaṁ sūra udite bodhi gopāḥ |
janmeva nityaṁ tanayaṁ juṣasva stomam me agne tanvā sujāta || 2 ||
tvaṁ nṛcakṣā vṛṣabhānu pūrvīḥ kṛṣṇāsv agne aruṣo vi bhāhi |
vaso neṣi ca parṣi cāty aṁhaḥ kṛdhī no rāya uśijo yaviṣṭha || 3 ||
aṣāḻho agne vṛṣabho didīhi puro viśvāḥ saubhagā saṁjigīvān |
yajñasya netā prathamasya pāyor jātavedo bṛhataḥ supraṇīte || 4 ||
acchidrā śarma jaritaḥ purūṇi devām̐ acchā dīdyānaḥ sumedhāḥ |
ratho na sasnir abhi vakṣi vājam agne tvaṁ rodasī naḥ sumeke || 5 ||
pra pīpaya vṛṣabha jinva vājān agne tvaṁ rodasī naḥ sudoghe |
devebhir deva surucā rucāno mā no martasya durmatiḥ pari ṣṭhāt || 6 ||
iḻām agne purudaṁsaṁ saniṁ goḥ śaśvattamaṁ havamānāya sādha |
syān naḥ sūnus tanayo vijāvāgne sā te sumatir bhūtv asme || 7 ||
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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