Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.49 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.
Indra! Mighty king of the gods! Bṛhaspati, lord of sacred speech! Together ye rule the cosmos. Indra with his thunderbolt and his strength beyond measure. Bṛhaspati with his wisdom and his word that shakes the heavens.
Indra hath defeated the serpent. Indra hath released the waters. Indra hath drunk the soma and become invincible. His thunderbolt is the terror of demons. His hand crushes the wicked. Yet merciful is he to those who worship him with devotion.
Bṛhaspati! Thou priest of the gods! Thy word hath created the world. Thy song hath set all things in order. Through thy sacred utterances the cosmos stands firm. The ṛta—the cosmic order—floweth from thy mouth. Thou art the keeper of righteousness and truth.
These two—the lord of might and the lord of prayer—stand together. Indra defendeth us from all harm. Bṛhaspati guideth us in the ways of justice. One is strength unending. The other is wisdom supreme. Together they are unstoppable.
We call upon thee, O Indra! We call upon thee, O Bṛhaspati! Accept the soma. Accept our praise. Grant us victory over our enemies. Grant us the wisdom to know right from wrong. Let thy power and thy word dwell among us. Let us walk ever in the light of thy truth. O mighty king! O wise lord! Hear us now!
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.49
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.
idaṁ vām āsye haviḥ priyam indrābṛhaspatī |
uktham madaś ca śasyate || 1 ||
ayaṁ vām pari ṣicyate soma indrābṛhaspatī |
cārur madāya pītaye || 2 ||
ā na indrābṛhaspatī gṛham indraś ca gacchatam |
somapā somapītaye || 3 ||
asme indrābṛhaspatī rayiṁ dhattaṁ śatagvinam |
aśvāvantaṁ sahasriṇam || 4 ||
indrābṛhaspatī vayaṁ sute gīrbhir havāmahe |
asya somasya pītaye || 5 ||
somam indrābṛhaspatī pibataṁ dāśuṣo gṛhe |
mādayethāṁ tadokasā || 6 ||
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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