Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.11 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.
Hear us, O Agni! Take our prayer and praise!
We lift our voices to thy blazing altar,
We bring our gifts of butter and of grain,
Our humble offerings of heart and hand.
Grant us thy favor, O most glorious fire!
We ask not for the riches of the kingdoms,
Nor palaces adorned with gold and jewels,
But simple goods—enough to feed and warm us.
Give us the cattle, strong and swift and healthy,
That they may plow the fields and bear the burden,
That milk may flow from them in abundance,
And we shall never know the pangs of hunger.
Grant us the sons! O Agni, hear our prayer!
Let them be born with strength within their sinews,
With courage burning in their hearts like thee,
With wisdom in their eyes and truth upon their lips.
Let them grow tall beneath the sky and sunshine,
Let them learn all the arts of war and peace,
That they may carry honor to our name,
And make the Atri clan remembered always.
And grant the daughters too, O flame eternal!
Let them be beautiful as the morning,
Wise in the ways of household and of ritual,
Bearers of the sacred fire unto their children.
Grant us prosperity in all our ventures!
When we do plant the seed within the earth,
Let the rains fall abundant in their season,
And let the harvest be most bounteous.
Protect us from our enemies and rivals,
From those who bear us malice and ill will.
Let thy flames consume their evil plots,
And turn their arrows harmless from our dwelling.
O Agni, we have offered up our praise,
We have brought forth our gifts with gladness true.
Now hear our prayer and grant what we have asked—
Wealth, sons, protection, and thy blessing sure.
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.11
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.
janasya gopā ajaniṣṭa jāgṛvir agniḥ sudakṣaḥ suvitāya navyase |
ghṛtapratīko bṛhatā divispṛśā dyumad vi bhāti bharatebhyaḥ śuciḥ || 1 ||
yajñasya ketum prathamam purohitam agniṁ naras triṣadhasthe sam īdhire |
indreṇa devaiḥ sarathaṁ sa barhiṣi sīdan ni hotā yajathāya sukratuḥ || 2 ||
asammṛṣṭo jāyase mātroḥ śucir mandraḥ kavir ud atiṣṭho vivasvataḥ |
ghṛtena tvāvardhayann agna āhuta dhūmas te ketur abhavad divi śritaḥ || 3 ||
agnir no yajñam upa vetu sādhuyāgniṁ naro vi bharante gṛhe-gṛhe |
agnir dūto abhavad dhavyavāhano 'gniṁ vṛṇānā vṛṇate kavikratum || 4 ||
tubhyedam agne madhumattamaṁ vacas tubhyam manīṣā iyam astu śaṁ hṛde |
tvāṁ giraḥ sindhum ivāvanīr mahīr ā pṛṇanti śavasā vardhayanti ca || 5 ||
tvām agne aṅgiraso guhā hitam anv avindañ chiśriyāṇaṁ vane-vane |
sa jāyase mathyamānaḥ saho mahat tvām āhuḥ sahasas putram aṅgiraḥ || 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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