Hymn to Indra
Rigveda III.32 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 Indra, slayer of Vṛtra, thou who didst slay the great dragon of chaos and disorder, who didst pierce through his many-coiled body with thy thunderbolt and bring forth the waters that nourish all the earth—we honor thee as the maintainer of cosmic order, the defender of ṛta itself.
In the ancient days, before the cosmos was fully formed, before the gods had established dominion over the worlds, Vṛtra the dragon did coil himself about the waters of creation and did prevent them from flowing. He sought to keep all things locked in a state of stasis, of unchanging death. The cosmos could not grow. Life could not flourish. The waters could not nourish the earth.
But thou, O mighty Indra, didst perceive this injustice and didst raise thy thunderbolt on high, the weapon forged by the celestial craftsmen in the fires of heaven. Thou didst advance upon Vṛtra in terrible combat. The battle raged across the heavens and the earth did tremble. The very foundations of existence shook at the impact of thy blows.
And then, in a moment of supreme triumph, thy thunderbolt found its mark. The dragon's body burst asunder. The waters were released from their imprisonment. They flowed forth in torrents across the earth, bringing life and fertility to all the lands. The rains came. The rivers ran full. The crops grew tall in the fields. Life itself was liberated from the bondage of chaos.
Yet thy victory was not merely physical, O Indra. It was a cosmic act of transformation. Thou didst restore the order of the universe. Thou didst make possible all subsequent creation, all growth, all evolution, all the becoming that characterizeth the cosmos.
We invoke thee now as the slayer of chaos, the establisher of order, the warrior who doth defend ṛta against all that would destroy it. Grant unto us thy strength to overcome the dragons of our own nature, the obstacles that prevent us from flowing forth into our fullest expression. Let us drink deep of the waters that thou hast liberated, and let us be nourished by thy eternal victory.
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.32
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.
indra somaṁ somapate pibemam mādhyaṁdinaṁ savanaṁ cāru yat te |
prapruthyā śipre maghavann ṛjīṣin vimucyā harī iha mādayasva || 1 ||
gavāśiram manthinam indra śukram pibā somaṁ rarimā te madāya |
brahmakṛtā mārutenā gaṇena sajoṣā rudrais tṛpad ā vṛṣasva || 2 ||
ye te śuṣmaṁ ye taviṣīm avardhann arcanta indra marutas ta ojaḥ |
mādhyaṁdine savane vajrahasta pibā rudrebhiḥ sagaṇaḥ suśipra || 3 ||
ta in nv asya madhumad vivipra indrasya śardho maruto ya āsan |
yebhir vṛtrasyeṣito vivedāmarmaṇo manyamānasya marma || 4 ||
manuṣvad indra savanaṁ juṣāṇaḥ pibā somaṁ śaśvate vīryāya |
sa ā vavṛtsva haryaśva yajñaiḥ saraṇyubhir apo arṇā sisarṣi || 5 ||
tvam apo yad dha vṛtraṁ jaghanvām̐ atyām̐ iva prāsṛjaḥ sartavājau |
śayānam indra caratā vadhena vavrivāṁsam pari devīr adevam || 6 ||
yajāma in namasā vṛddham indram bṛhantam ṛṣvam ajaraṁ yuvānam |
yasya priye mamatur yajñiyasya na rodasī mahimānam mamāte || 7 ||
indrasya karma sukṛtā purūṇi vratāni devā na minanti viśve |
dādhāra yaḥ pṛthivīṁ dyām utemāṁ jajāna sūryam uṣasaṁ sudaṁsāḥ || 8 ||
adrogha satyaṁ tava tan mahitvaṁ sadyo yaj jāto apibo ha somam |
na dyāva indra tavasas ta ojo nāhā na māsāḥ śarado varanta || 9 ||
tvaṁ sadyo apibo jāta indra madāya somam parame vyoman |
yad dha dyāvāpṛthivī āviveśīr athābhavaḥ pūrvyaḥ kārudhāyāḥ || 10 ||
ahann ahim pariśayānam arṇa ojāyamānaṁ tuvijāta tavyān |
na te mahitvam anu bhūd adha dyaur yad anyayā sphigyā3 kṣām avasthāḥ || 11 ||
yajño hi ta indra vardhano bhūd uta priyaḥ sutasomo miyedhaḥ |
yajñena yajñam ava yajñiyaḥ san yajñas te vajram ahihatya āvat || 12 ||
yajñenendram avasā cakre arvāg ainaṁ sumnāya navyase vavṛtyām |
yaḥ stomebhir vāvṛdhe pūrvyebhir yo madhyamebhir uta nūtanebhiḥ || 13 ||
viveṣa yan mā dhiṣaṇā jajāna stavai purā pāryād indram ahnaḥ |
aṁhaso yatra pīparad yathā no nāveva yāntam ubhaye havante || 14 ||
āpūrṇo asya kalaśaḥ svāhā sekteva kośaṁ sisice pibadhyai |
sam u priyā āvavṛtran madāya pradakṣiṇid abhi somāsa indram || 15 ||
na tvā gabhīraḥ puruhūta sindhur nādrayaḥ pari ṣanto varanta |
itthā sakhibhya iṣito yad indrā dṛḻhaṁ cid arujo gavyam ūrvam || 16 ||
śunaṁ huvema maghavānam indram asmin bhare nṛtamaṁ vājasātau |
śṛṇvantam ugram ūtaye samatsu ghnantaṁ vṛtrāṇi saṁjitaṁ dhanānām || 17 ||
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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