Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.22 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, thou whose tongues number seven, each one more brilliant than the last, each one bearing its own cry of exultation unto the heavens—we marvel at thy manifold splendor. Thy flames do not ascend in uniformity, but rather in a glorious profusion of colors and forms, a dance of light that speaks to the infinite complexity of thy nature.
The red tongue devoureth wood and stubble, transforming them into ash and memory. The golden tongue riseth highest, reaching toward the sun itself as though to claim kinship with that greater flame. The blue tongue flickers swift and subtle, catching at the heart of the offering and bearing it aloft. The purple tongue twisteth and writeth like the body of the sacred serpent. The white tongue illuminates all that lieth in darkness, revealing that which was hidden. The orange tongue spreadeth forth like the wings of the heavenly eagle. The black tongue, deepest and most mysterious, speaketh of the mysteries that even the gods do not fully fathom.
Each tongue hath its own voice, its own song, yet all sing in harmony a single melody of transformation and ascension. They are as the strings of the celestial lyre, each vibrating at its own frequency, yet producing together a music most sublime.
Thou art not a simple thing, O Agni, but rather a cosmos unto thyself, infinite in thy expressions, eternal in thy manifestations. Those who think they understand thee are proven fools. Those who approach thee with humble reverence begin to glimpse the vastness of thy nature. Thou art older than thought, more powerful than kingdoms, more generous than the ocean.
O seven-tongued one, consume our offerings. Accept our praises. Let thy manifold flames carry our prayers unto the gods who dwell in the regions beyond mortal sight, and let them answer us according to thy wisdom and their grace.
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.22
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.
ayaṁ so agnir yasmin somam indraḥ sutaṁ dadhe jaṭhare vāvaśānaḥ |
sahasriṇaṁ vājam atyaṁ na saptiṁ sasavān san stūyase jātavedaḥ || 1 ||
agne yat te divi varcaḥ pṛthivyāṁ yad oṣadhīṣv apsv ā yajatra |
yenāntarikṣam urv ātatantha tveṣaḥ sa bhānur arṇavo nṛcakṣāḥ || 2 ||
agne divo arṇam acchā jigāsy acchā devām̐ ūciṣe dhiṣṇyā ye |
yā rocane parastāt sūryasya yāś cāvastād upatiṣṭhanta āpaḥ || 3 ||
purīṣyāso agnayaḥ prāvaṇebhiḥ sajoṣasaḥ |
juṣantāṁ yajñam adruho 'namīvā iṣo mahīḥ || 4 ||
iḻām agne purudaṁsaṁ saniṁ goḥ śaśvattamaṁ havamānāya sādha |
syān naḥ sūnus tanayo vijāvāgne sā te sumatir bhūtv asme || 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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