Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.21 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.
Agni, thou eternal flame born anew with the coming of each dawn, who dost perish not though thou consumest all things, who art ever young yet ancient beyond the reckoning of mortal years—we see thy majesty inscribed upon the heavens themselves.
Each morning, when the darkness giveth way before the rising sun, thou art kindled afresh. Each evening, when the ritual fire is lit upon the altar, thou returnest in thy glory. Thou art the eternal wheel turning ever round and round, the cycle that knows neither beginning nor ending, the pattern woven into the very fabric of existence itself. As the day dieth and the night cometh forth, as the seasons turn and the years pass into the deep past, so too dost thou cycle eternal through thy manifestations.
In the sun thou blazest forth across the vault of heaven, warming the earth and ripening the grain. In the stars thou dwellest as a distant fire, burning in realms beyond mortal ken. In the lightning thou flashest brilliant and terrible. In the hearth-stone thou dwellest as a humble companion to the household. Yet all these are but one flame, one eternal essence expressing itself in myriad forms.
Thou hast burned in the ritual fires of the ancients, in the sacred groves of the Ṛṣis, in the hearts of those who love thee. Thou shalt burn in fires yet unlit by mortals not yet born, in eras that lie hidden in the lap of Time. Thou art the witness to all that hath been, all that is, and all that shall come to pass.
O Agni, eternal cycle, infinite turning wheel of fire and time—grant unto us a portion of thy deathlessness. Though our lives are brief as the spark, let us kindle something of thy eternal flame within our hearts, that when we pass from this realm, our light might endure forever in the memory of those who come after.
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.21
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.
imaṁ no yajñam amṛteṣu dhehīmā havyā jātavedo juṣasva |
stokānām agne medaso ghṛtasya hotaḥ prāśāna prathamo niṣadya || 1 ||
ghṛtavantaḥ pāvaka te stokāḥ ścotanti medasaḥ |
svadharman devavītaye śreṣṭhaṁ no dhehi vāryam || 2 ||
tubhyaṁ stokā ghṛtaścuto 'gne viprāya santya |
ṛṣiḥ śreṣṭhaḥ sam idhyase yajñasya prāvitā bhava || 3 ||
tubhyaṁ ścotanty adhrigo śacīvaḥ stokāso agne medaso ghṛtasya |
kaviśasto bṛhatā bhānunāgā havyā juṣasva medhira || 4 ||
ojiṣṭhaṁ te madhyato meda udbhṛtam pra te vayaṁ dadāmahe |
ścotanti te vaso stokā adhi tvaci prati tān devaśo vihi || 5 ||
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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