Hymn to Indra
Rigveda III.39 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, we praise the ancient deeds that made thy name eternal! Long ago, in the days when the cosmos was young and the Devas still struggled to impose order upon chaos, thou didst perform the mighty acts that are remembered still.
Thou didst slay the serpent Vṛtra, that foe of the gods, the creature of the abyss who held the waters captive. For ages he had lain coiled in the depths, and darkness covered the earth. The life-giving rains did not fall; the rivers did not flow. But thou, O mighty one, didst rise up and say, "This shall not endure!" With thy vajra, that thunderbolt of divine wrath, thou didst strike him down. The blow was so terrible that it shattered all the heavens, and Vṛtra fell broken and dying.
Then did the waters rush forth in great torrents, and they flowed down upon the earth, bringing fertility to all the lands. The people saw the rains and gave praise. The fields turned green; the cattle drank deep and grew fat. All manner of creatures — birds and beasts and creeping things — rejoiced in thy deed.
We sing also of how thou didst overcome the mighty Śambara, and how thou didst break the fortresses of the Asuras. No enemy was too strong for thee; no citadel too well defended. Thou didst stride through their ranks as a man strideth through dry grass, and none could withstand thee.
These are the deeds of old, O Indra, yet they live forever in the memory of men. Every bard who tends the sacred fire singeth of them. Every people who hath heard the Vedas knoweth of thy glory. O eternal warrior, let thy deeds of old inspire us now, in our own time of trial, that we too may know 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.39
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.
indram matir hṛda ā vacyamānācchā patiṁ stomataṣṭā jigāti |
yā jāgṛvir vidathe śasyamānendra yat te jāyate viddhi tasya || 1 ||
divaś cid ā pūrvyā jāyamānā vi jāgṛvir vidathe śasyamānā |
bhadrā vastrāṇy arjunā vasānā seyam asme sanajā pitryā dhīḥ || 2 ||
yamā cid atra yamasūr asūta jihvāyā agram patad ā hy asthāt |
vapūṁṣi jātā mithunā sacete tamohanā tapuṣo budhna etā || 3 ||
nakir eṣāṁ ninditā martyeṣu ye asmākam pitaro goṣu yodhāḥ |
indra eṣāṁ dṛṁhitā māhināvān ud gotrāṇi sasṛje daṁsanāvān || 4 ||
sakhā ha yatra sakhibhir navagvair abhijñv ā satvabhir gā anugman |
satyaṁ tad indro daśabhir daśagvaiḥ sūryaṁ viveda tamasi kṣiyantam || 5 ||
indro madhu sambhṛtam usriyāyām padvad viveda śaphavan name goḥ |
guhā hitaṁ guhyaṁ gūḻham apsu haste dadhe dakṣiṇe dakṣiṇāvān || 6 ||
jyotir vṛṇīta tamaso vijānann āre syāma duritād abhīke |
imā giraḥ somapāḥ somavṛddha juṣasvendra purutamasya kāroḥ || 7 ||
jyotir yajñāya rodasī anu ṣyād āre syāma duritasya bhūreḥ |
bhūri cid dhi tujato martyasya supārāso vasavo barhaṇāvat || 8 ||
śunaṁ huvema maghavānam indram asmin bhare nṛtamaṁ vājasātau |
śṛṇvantam ugram ūtaye samatsu ghnantaṁ vṛtrāṇi saṁjitaṁ dhanānām || 9 ||
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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