Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.2 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.
All-seeing Agni, thou whose flame doth dwell in every nation and in every home, the Aryans know thy glory and the peoples far beyond thy brightness stretch their hands. Thou art not bound to one people or one land — thy power spreadeth over all the earth, thy presence universal as the breath.
In the Aryan's home thou burnest bright, and lo, the barbarian also seeth thy light! The merchant casteth ghee upon thy altar, the king calleth upon thee ere he rideth forth to battle. From the first dawn of time until this moment, thou hast been the kinsman of all mortal men.
The fire that cooketh food for every family, the warmth that gathereth the tribe at evening, the flame that sendeth up the sweetest offerings — all these are thee, O Vaiśvānara divine. Thou art the bond between the high gods and the low earth, the thread that weaveth all creation into one.
Thy brilliance teacheth all who gaze upon thee: the sacrifice ascendeth, life continueth, the order holdeth firm. Where thou art absent, darkness reigneth and chaos swalloweth all things. But where thy flame burneth, there the law standeth sure, there prosperity increaseth, there life flourisheth.
Come then to all the peoples, O Agni, visit every altar that is raised in thy honor. Let no mortal house be bereft of thy presence, let no sacrifice fail for lack of thy divine attention. For thou art the father of all nations, the priest of gods and men alike, the one through whom all being knoweth its true purpose.
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.2
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.
vaiśvānarāya dhiṣaṇām ṛtāvṛdhe ghṛtaṁ na pūtam agnaye janāmasi |
dvitā hotāram manuṣaś ca vāghato dhiyā rathaṁ na kuliśaḥ sam ṛṇvati || 1 ||
sa rocayaj januṣā rodasī ubhe sa mātror abhavat putra īḍyaḥ |
havyavāḻ agnir ajaraś canohito dūḻabho viśām atithir vibhāvasuḥ || 2 ||
kratvā dakṣasya taruṣo vidharmaṇi devāso agniṁ janayanta cittibhiḥ |
rurucānam bhānunā jyotiṣā mahām atyaṁ na vājaṁ saniṣyann upa bruve || 3 ||
ā mandrasya saniṣyanto vareṇyaṁ vṛṇīmahe ahrayaṁ vājam ṛgmiyam |
rātim bhṛgūṇām uśijaṁ kavikratum agniṁ rājantaṁ divyena śociṣā || 4 ||
agniṁ sumnāya dadhire puro janā vājaśravasam iha vṛktabarhiṣaḥ |
yatasrucaḥ surucaṁ viśvadevyaṁ rudraṁ yajñānāṁ sādhadiṣṭim apasām || 5 ||
pāvakaśoce tava hi kṣayam pari hotar yajñeṣu vṛktabarhiṣo naraḥ |
agne duva icchamānāsa āpyam upāsate draviṇaṁ dhehi tebhyaḥ || 6 ||
ā rodasī apṛṇad ā svar mahaj jātaṁ yad enam apaso adhārayan |
so adhvarāya pari ṇīyate kavir atyo na vājasātaye canohitaḥ || 7 ||
namasyata havyadātiṁ svadhvaraṁ duvasyata damyaṁ jātavedasam |
rathīr ṛtasya bṛhato vicarṣaṇir agnir devānām abhavat purohitaḥ || 8 ||
tisro yahvasya samidhaḥ parijmano 'gner apunann uśijo amṛtyavaḥ |
tāsām ekām adadhur martye bhujam u lokam u dve upa jāmim īyatuḥ || 9 ||
viśāṁ kaviṁ viśpatim mānuṣīr iṣaḥ saṁ sīm akṛṇvan svadhitiṁ na tejase |
sa udvato nivato yāti veviṣat sa garbham eṣu bhuvaneṣu dīdharat || 10 ||
sa jinvate jaṭhareṣu prajajñivān vṛṣā citreṣu nānadan na siṁhaḥ |
vaiśvānaraḥ pṛthupājā amartyo vasu ratnā dayamāno vi dāśuṣe || 11 ||
vaiśvānaraḥ pratnathā nākam āruhad divas pṛṣṭham bhandamānaḥ sumanmabhiḥ |
sa pūrvavaj janayañ jantave dhanaṁ samānam ajmam pary eti jāgṛviḥ || 12 ||
ṛtāvānaṁ yajñiyaṁ vipram ukthya1m ā yaṁ dadhe mātariśvā divi kṣayam |
taṁ citrayāmaṁ harikeśam īmahe sudītim agniṁ suvitāya navyase || 13 ||
śuciṁ na yāmann iṣiraṁ svardṛśaṁ ketuṁ divo rocanasthām uṣarbudham |
agnim mūrdhānaṁ divo apratiṣkutaṁ tam īmahe namasā vājinam bṛhat || 14 ||
mandraṁ hotāraṁ śucim advayāvinaṁ damūnasam ukthyaṁ viśvacarṣaṇim |
rathaṁ na citraṁ vapuṣāya darśatam manurhitaṁ sadam id rāya īmahe || 15 ||
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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