Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.1 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 5 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.
Come, O Agni, to this shrine of the Atris!
Thou whom we kindle in the breaking dawn,
Beloved priest of our ancestral fire,
Approach the altar where our fathers stood.
With clarified butter we anoint thy kindling,
With praise we feed thy golden, leaping flame.
Thou art the mouth through which the gods do feast,
The bridge between the mortal and divine.
O Agni, take our oblation to the heavens!
Carry our songs to Indra on his throne,
To Mitra, Varuṇa, to all the Immortals—
Let them rejoice in what the Atri clan hath wrought.
Thou art the guest whom no man dare refuse,
The priest who serves both altar and the home.
In thee the seed of sacrifice is planted,
And from thy flames arise the sacred words.
Guard us, O Fire, from malice and from hatred,
From rākṣasas that prowl the darkened night.
Thy light shall be our shield, thy heat our armor—
No demon dares approach the Atri flame.
Grant us wealth, O Agni, grant us cattle,
Grant us sons to carry on our name.
Let them be wise and mighty in their combat,
Let them speak truth, as thou dost speak it now.
Thrice blessed is the man who tends thy fire,
Who keeps the sacred covenant alight.
For he shall know no want, no fear, no sorrow—
The gods themselves shall guard his hearth and home.
Come, blazing one! Sit down upon this altar!
Let all the cosmos know the Atris call,
That from the earliest dawn until the gloaming,
We keep thy flame alive in sacred trust.
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 V.1
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.
abodhy agniḥ samidhā janānām prati dhenum ivāyatīm uṣāsam |
yahvā iva pra vayām ujjihānāḥ pra bhānavaḥ sisrate nākam accha || 1 ||
abodhi hotā yajathāya devān ūrdhvo agniḥ sumanāḥ prātar asthāt |
samiddhasya ruśad adarśi pājo mahān devas tamaso nir amoci || 2 ||
yad īṁ gaṇasya raśanām ajīgaḥ śucir aṅkte śucibhir gobhir agniḥ |
ād dakṣiṇā yujyate vājayanty uttānām ūrdhvo adhayaj juhūbhiḥ || 3 ||
agnim acchā devayatām manāṁsi cakṣūṁṣīva sūrye saṁ caranti |
yad īṁ suvāte uṣasā virūpe śveto vājī jāyate agre ahnām || 4 ||
janiṣṭa hi jenyo agre ahnāṁ hito hiteṣv aruṣo vaneṣu |
dame-dame sapta ratnā dadhāno 'gnir hotā ni ṣasādā yajīyān || 5 ||
agnir hotā ny asīdad yajīyān upasthe mātuḥ surabhā u loke |
yuvā kaviḥ puruniṣṭha ṛtāvā dhartā kṛṣṭīnām uta madhya iddhaḥ || 6 ||
pra ṇu tyaṁ vipram adhvareṣu sādhum agniṁ hotāram īḻate namobhiḥ |
ā yas tatāna rodasī ṛtena nityam mṛjanti vājinaṁ ghṛtena || 7 ||
mārjālyo mṛjyate sve damūnāḥ kavipraśasto atithiḥ śivo naḥ |
sahasraśṛṅgo vṛṣabhas tadojā viśvām̐ agne sahasā prāsy anyān || 8 ||
pra sadyo agne aty eṣy anyān āvir yasmai cārutamo babhūtha |
īḻenyo vapuṣyo vibhāvā priyo viśām atithir mānuṣīṇām || 9 ||
tubhyam bharanti kṣitayo yaviṣṭha balim agne antita ota dūrāt |
ā bhandiṣṭhasya sumatiṁ cikiddhi bṛhat te agne mahi śarma bhadram || 10 ||
ādya ratham bhānumo bhānumantam agne tiṣṭha yajatebhiḥ samantam |
vidvān pathīnām urv a1ntarikṣam eha devān haviradyāya vakṣi || 11 ||
avocāma kavaye medhyāya vaco vandāru vṛṣabhāya vṛṣṇe |
gaviṣṭhiro namasā stomam agnau divīva rukmam uruvyañcam aśret || 12 ||
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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