Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.3 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 art the pillar that upholdeth heaven and earth! The gods have set thee between the two great realms, a bridge of fire upon which ascendeth all that mortals offer. Without thee, these worlds would tumble into void. Through thee, the order standeth.
In thy bright flames the sky findeth its dwelling, and the earth beneath is blessed with thy warm touch. The waters honor thee, the winds do blow around thee, all the elements obey thy sacred law. Thou art the knot that bindeth the divided worlds, the thread of ṛta that holdeth all in place.
When the gods did fashion this creation, they set thee in the center as the pillar of support. From below thou dost push upward with thy strength, and from above the heavens press downward — and there, suspended betwixt the two, thou standest eternal and unmoved. The devas themselves do marvel at thy constancy.
Thou takest that which mortals offer — the ghee and grain, the soma precious — and with thy mouth thou transformest it into divine essence. Upward it ascendeth on thy flame, and lo, the gods themselves do eat the smoke of sacrifice! Thus art thou the link, the sacred messenger between the realm of spirit and the realm of flesh.
Without this communion, what would become of us? We mortals would wander lost, cut off from the gods. But thou, O Agni, keepest the bridge open. Every offering maketh the path more bright, every flame that riseth carrieth our prayers unto the ears of the immortals. Blessed art thou, O fire, eternal sustainer of the cosmic order.
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.3
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 pṛthupājase vipo ratnā vidhanta dharuṇeṣu gātave |
agnir hi devām̐ amṛto duvasyaty athā dharmāṇi sanatā na dūduṣat || 1 ||
antar dūto rodasī dasma īyate hotā niṣatto manuṣaḥ purohitaḥ |
kṣayam bṛhantam pari bhūṣati dyubhir devebhir agnir iṣito dhiyāvasuḥ || 2 ||
ketuṁ yajñānāṁ vidathasya sādhanaṁ viprāso agnim mahayanta cittibhiḥ |
apāṁsi yasminn adhi saṁdadhur giras tasmin sumnāni yajamāna ā cake || 3 ||
pitā yajñānām asuro vipaścitāṁ vimānam agnir vayunaṁ ca vāghatām |
ā viveśa rodasī bhūrivarpasā purupriyo bhandate dhāmabhiḥ kaviḥ || 4 ||
candram agniṁ candrarathaṁ harivrataṁ vaiśvānaram apsuṣadaṁ svarvidam |
vigāhaṁ tūrṇiṁ taviṣībhir āvṛtam bhūrṇiṁ devāsa iha suśriyaṁ dadhuḥ || 5 ||
agnir devebhir manuṣaś ca jantubhis tanvāno yajñam purupeśasaṁ dhiyā |
rathīr antar īyate sādhadiṣṭibhir jīro damūnā abhiśasticātanaḥ || 6 ||
agne jarasva svapatya āyuny ūrjā pinvasva sam iṣo didīhi naḥ |
vayāṁsi jinva bṛhataś ca jāgṛva uśig devānām asi sukratur vipām || 7 ||
viśpatiṁ yahvam atithiṁ naraḥ sadā yantāraṁ dhīnām uśijaṁ ca vāghatām |
adhvarāṇāṁ cetanaṁ jātavedasam pra śaṁsanti namasā jūtibhir vṛdhe || 8 ||
vibhāvā devaḥ suraṇaḥ pari kṣitīr agnir babhūva śavasā sumadrathaḥ |
tasya vratāni bhūripoṣiṇo vayam upa bhūṣema dama ā suvṛktibhiḥ || 9 ||
vaiśvānara tava dhāmāny ā cake yebhiḥ svarvid abhavo vicakṣaṇa |
jāta āpṛṇo bhuvanāni rodasī agne tā viśvā paribhūr asi tmanā || 10 ||
vaiśvānarasya daṁsanābhyo bṛhad ariṇād ekaḥ svapasyayā kaviḥ |
ubhā pitarā mahayann ajāyatāgnir dyāvāpṛthivī bhūriretasā || 11 ||
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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