Hymn to Indra
Rigveda III.46 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, thy cosmic kingship is revealed in all that is and all that hath ever been! From the highest heaven where thou sittest upon thy golden throne to the lowest depths of the abyss, all things are subject to thy law. The sun obeyeth thy command; the moon followeth the path that thou hast ordained. The stars move in their courses according to thy will.
Thou art the lord over all the worlds — the realm of the gods above, the realm of men in the middle, and the realm of the demons and ancestral spirits below. Each realm hath its own nature and its own laws, yet all of them are ultimately subject to thy dominion. The lesser gods who rule the various domains do so only because thou dost permit it and support their authority.
We see thy cosmic kingship in the order of the seasons — how the rains come in their appointed time, how the crops grow according to thy design, how the herds flourish under thy blessing. We see it in the way that courage is rewarded and wickedness punisheth itself. We see it in the very structure of the universe, wherein chaos is ever restrained by thy might.
The Devas recognize thee as their king, though thou art one of them. They gather at thy council and seek thy counsel in matters of grave import. The Asuras tremble when thy name is spoken, for they know that thy authority cannot be gainsaid. Even Viṣṇu, the preserver of worlds, acknowledges thy supremacy.
Yet thy kingship is not tyranny, but justice. Thou rulest with an even hand, rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked. Thou protectest the weak and exaltest the strong. Thou guidest the cosmos toward its destined end, according to the eternal plan that transcendeth all understanding.
O lord of lords, O cosmic king! Accept our worship, and let thy benevolent rule extend over us forever!
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.46
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.
yudhmasya te vṛṣabhasya svarāja ugrasya yūnaḥ sthavirasya ghṛṣveḥ |
ajūryato vajriṇo vīryā3ṇīndra śrutasya mahato mahāni || 1 ||
mahām̐ asi mahiṣa vṛṣṇyebhir dhanaspṛd ugra sahamāno anyān |
eko viśvasya bhuvanasya rājā sa yodhayā ca kṣayayā ca janān || 2 ||
pra mātrābhī ririce rocamānaḥ pra devebhir viśvato apratītaḥ |
pra majmanā diva indraḥ pṛthivyāḥ proror maho antarikṣād ṛjīṣī || 3 ||
uruṁ gabhīraṁ januṣābhy u1graṁ viśvavyacasam avatam matīnām |
indraṁ somāsaḥ pradivi sutāsaḥ samudraṁ na sravata ā viśanti || 4 ||
yaṁ somam indra pṛthivīdyāvā garbhaṁ na mātā bibhṛtas tvāyā |
taṁ te hinvanti tam u te mṛjanty adhvaryavo vṛṣabha pātavā u || 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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