Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.5 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.
Welcome, O Agni, to the home of mortals! Thou art the guest eternal, the friend who never departeth, the companion in times of plenty and of want. Each night we kindle thee anew, each morning thou grainest fresh strength. In the center of every household thou dwellest, honored and beloved.
The children do gather 'round thy warmth at evening, and the mother warmeth the milk of her breast above thy flame. The old father telleth the ancient stories by thy light, and the maiden seeth her lover's face reflected in thy glow. Thou art not merely fire — thou art the heart of the home, the binding thread of kinship, the symbol of life itself.
When we are cold, thou givest us warmth. When our food is raw and unfit for eating, thy flame maketh it savory and nourishing. When the night falls dark and full of terrors, thy brightness driveth back the shadows and the creeping things. Thou art our protector, our provider, our most intimate companion among all the gods.
Yet thou art not bound to our houses alone. Thou art immortal, eternal, undiminished by use. We mortals come and go like the grains of sand upon the shore, but thou remainest. We light thee and extinguish thee, yet thy essence is never touched. In every home that hath ever kindled fire, thou art present. In every home yet to come, thou shalt dwell.
Therefore, O Agni, accept our gratitude and our devotion. Stay with us through the long nights and the dark seasons. Guard our families from harm, bless our endeavors, grant us thy favor as we sit by thy side. For thou art the first of all the gods we know, the nearest to our hearts, the most familiar and the most divine.
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.5
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.
praty agnir uṣasaś cekitāno 'bodhi vipraḥ padavīḥ kavīnām |
pṛthupājā devayadbhiḥ samiddho 'pa dvārā tamaso vahnir āvaḥ || 1 ||
pred v agnir vāvṛdhe stomebhir gīrbhiḥ stotṝṇāṁ namasya ukthaiḥ |
pūrvīr ṛtasya saṁdṛśaś cakānaḥ saṁ dūto adyaud uṣaso viroke || 2 ||
adhāyy agnir mānuṣīṣu vikṣv a1pāṁ garbho mitra ṛtena sādhan |
ā haryato yajataḥ sānv asthād abhūd u vipro havyo matīnām || 3 ||
mitro agnir bhavati yat samiddho mitro hotā varuṇo jātavedāḥ |
mitro adhvaryur iṣiro damūnā mitraḥ sindhūnām uta parvatānām || 4 ||
pāti priyaṁ ripo agram padaṁ veḥ pāti yahvaś caraṇaṁ sūryasya |
pāti nābhā saptaśīrṣāṇam agniḥ pāti devānām upamādam ṛṣvaḥ || 5 ||
ṛbhuś cakra īḍyaṁ cāru nāma viśvāni devo vayunāni vidvān |
sasasya carma ghṛtavat padaṁ ves tad id agnī rakṣaty aprayucchan || 6 ||
ā yonim agnir ghṛtavantam asthāt pṛthupragāṇam uśantam uśānaḥ |
dīdyānaḥ śucir ṛṣvaḥ pāvakaḥ punaḥ-punar mātarā navyasī kaḥ || 7 ||
sadyo jāta oṣadhībhir vavakṣe yadī vardhanti prasvo ghṛtena |
āpa iva pravatā śumbhamānā uruṣyad agniḥ pitror upasthe || 8 ||
ud u ṣṭutaḥ samidhā yahvo adyaud varṣman divo adhi nābhā pṛthivyāḥ |
mitro agnir īḍyo mātariśvā dūto vakṣad yajathāya devān || 9 ||
ud astambhīt samidhā nākam ṛṣvo3 'gnir bhavann uttamo rocanānām |
yadī bhṛgubhyaḥ pari mātariśvā guhā santaṁ havyavāhaṁ samīdhe || 10 ||
iḻām agne purudaṁsaṁ saniṁ goḥ śaśvattamaṁ havamānāya sādha |
syān naḥ sūnus tanayo vijāvāgne sā te sumatir bhūtv asme || 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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