Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.25 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 4 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.
Thou holdest in thy hand the vajra, that terrible weapon wrought by the divine craftsmen in the forge of the cosmos. It is no common thunderbolt, O Indra! It is the weapon of fate itself, the instrument through which the cosmic order is maintained.
The vajra singeth in thy hand. It knoweth no hesitation. It drinketh the blood of thy enemies. It breaketh whatever it toucheth. The strongest fortress crumbles before it. The hardest armor splitteth open. The mightiest shield is rendered to splinters.
When thou raisest the vajra above thy head, the very heavens hold their breath. The clouds gather in anticipation. The wind ceaseth to blow. All the worlds prepare themselves for the terrible judgment that is about to fall.
And then thou bringeth it down, and lo! The sound of that blow is heard throughout all existence. The enemy is shattered. The force is spent. And in the aftermath, order is restored. The ṛta is maintained. The cosmos continueth in its proper course.
Lightning floweth from thy hand in brilliant arcs of pure power. Where it striketh, the earth is scarred. Where it passeth, the air itself is rent asunder. The very molecules of existence tremble at the passage of thy terrible weapon.
Yet the vajra is more than mere instrument of destruction. It is also the symbol of thy absolute mastery. It declareth to all the worlds that thou alone possesseth the power to move them, to shape them, to maintain them in their proper courses.
The Maruts carry smaller thunderbolts, but the great vajra belongeth to thee alone. Even Rudra, that fearful god, respecteth the power that thou commandest. Even Varuna acknowledgeth thy supremacy when thy hand closeth upon the vajra.
We mortals gaze upon the thunderstorms and see thy weapon at work, O Indra. We hear the thunder and hear thy battle-cry. We fear thy power and honor thy name.
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 IV.25
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.
ko adya naryo devakāma uśann indrasya sakhyaṁ jujoṣa |
ko vā mahe 'vase pāryāya samiddhe agnau sutasoma īṭṭe || 1 ||
ko nānāma vacasā somyāya manāyur vā bhavati vasta usrāḥ |
ka indrasya yujyaṁ kaḥ sakhitvaṁ ko bhrātraṁ vaṣṭi kavaye ka ūtī || 2 ||
ko devānām avo adyā vṛṇīte ka ādityām̐ aditiṁ jyotir īṭṭe |
kasyāśvināv indro agniḥ sutasyāṁśoḥ pibanti manasāvivenam || 3 ||
tasmā agnir bhārataḥ śarma yaṁsaj jyok paśyāt sūryam uccarantam |
ya indrāya sunavāmety āha nare naryāya nṛtamāya nṛṇām || 4 ||
na taṁ jinanti bahavo na dabhrā urv asmā aditiḥ śarma yaṁsat |
priyaḥ sukṛt priya indre manāyuḥ priyaḥ suprāvīḥ priyo asya somī || 5 ||
suprāvyaḥ prāśuṣāḻ eṣa vīraḥ suṣveḥ paktiṁ kṛṇute kevalendraḥ |
nāsuṣver āpir na sakhā na jāmir duṣprāvyo 'vahanted avācaḥ || 6 ||
na revatā paṇinā sakhyam indro 'sunvatā sutapāḥ saṁ gṛṇīte |
āsya vedaḥ khidati hanti nagnaṁ vi suṣvaye paktaye kevalo bhūt || 7 ||
indram pare 'vare madhyamāsa indraṁ yānto 'vasitāsa indram |
indraṁ kṣiyanta uta yudhyamānā indraṁ naro vājayanto havante || 8 ||
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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