Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.6 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 radiant one, thou burnest away all that is foul and false! Where thy flame spreadeth, the darkness fleeth in terror. The spirits of darkness, the demons that walk in shadow, the lies and deceits that creep through the night — all these are consumed by thy celestial fire.
Thou art the conqueror of dullness, the slayer of ignorance, the victor over all things that oppose the light. When thou dost kindle, the world is made new. The old is burned away, the stale is consumed, and all that is fresh and pure remaineth in thy wake. This is thy eternal work — to purify, to illuminate, to make all things bright.
The thief cannot steal in thy presence, for thou seest all things. The liar cannot deceive, for thy light revealeth the truth. The evil-doer cannot hide, for thy gaze pierceth all shadows. Nothing unclean can withstand thy brilliance, nothing corrupt can survive thy touch. Thou art the great sanitizer, the cosmic cleanser, the fire that maketh all things whole.
But thy destruction is not cruel — it is merciful. Thou burnest away only that which is ready to be burned. The gold is purified in thy flame but not consumed. The seed is scorched by thy heat but germinateth stronger than before. Even in thy violence there is healing, even in thy fury there is compassion.
Therefore, O Agni, scourge of the darkness, purifier of all things, come thou unto our souls and burn away our impurities! Consume our sins, calcinate our doubts, reduce to ash all that separateth us from the light. Let us be made clean through thy divine fire, let us be reborn in thy flame, let us shine forth like unto thee in radiance and in truth.
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.6
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.
pra kāravo mananā vacyamānā devadrīcīṁ nayata devayantaḥ |
dakṣiṇāvāḍ vājinī prācy eti havir bharanty agnaye ghṛtācī || 1 ||
ā rodasī apṛṇā jāyamāna uta pra rikthā adha nu prayajyo |
divaś cid agne mahinā pṛthivyā vacyantāṁ te vahnayaḥ saptajihvāḥ || 2 ||
dyauś ca tvā pṛthivī yajñiyāso ni hotāraṁ sādayante damāya |
yadī viśo mānuṣīr devayantīḥ prayasvatīr īḻate śukram arciḥ || 3 ||
mahān sadhasthe dhruva ā niṣatto 'ntar dyāvā māhine haryamāṇaḥ |
āskre sapatnī ajare amṛkte sabardughe urugāyasya dhenū || 4 ||
vratā te agne mahato mahāni tava kratvā rodasī ā tatantha |
tvaṁ dūto abhavo jāyamānas tvaṁ netā vṛṣabha carṣaṇīnām || 5 ||
ṛtasya vā keśinā yogyābhir ghṛtasnuvā rohitā dhuri dhiṣva |
athā vaha devān deva viśvān svadhvarā kṛṇuhi jātavedaḥ || 6 ||
divaś cid ā te rucayanta rokā uṣo vibhātīr anu bhāsi pūrvīḥ |
apo yad agna uśadhag vaneṣu hotur mandrasya panayanta devāḥ || 7 ||
urau vā ye antarikṣe madanti divo vā ye rocane santi devāḥ |
ūmā vā ye suhavāso yajatrā āyemire rathyo agne aśvāḥ || 8 ||
aibhir agne sarathaṁ yāhy arvāṅ nānārathaṁ vā vibhavo hy aśvāḥ |
patnīvatas triṁśataṁ trīm̐ś ca devān anuṣvadham ā vaha mādayasva || 9 ||
sa hotā yasya rodasī cid urvī yajñaṁ-yajñam abhi vṛdhe gṛṇītaḥ |
prācī adhvareva tasthatuḥ sumeke ṛtāvarī ṛtajātasya satye || 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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