Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.18 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.
Agni, thou art the cosmic priest who stands at the center of all ceremonies. Every sacrifice made upon earth is magnified a thousandfold when it passes through thy sacred flames. Thou art the bridge, the mediator, the channel of communication between mortal and immortal realms.
What god doth dwell more intimately with man than thou? We feed thee with our own hands. We kindle thee in our own homes. Thou knowest the secret desires of our hearts before we speak them. Thou dost carry our unspoken yearnings heavenward on the wings of smoke.
O Agni, thou art ancient beyond reckoning, yet ever young and newly born. Thou hast presided over ten thousand sacrifices since the first dawn of creation. No mortal hath ever seen thy beginning, nor shall any witness thy end. Eternal art thou, while empires crumble like ash beneath thy feet.
The Maruts, those fierce wind-gods, attend upon thee. The Adityas, the immortal judges, look down upon thy flames with favor. Even Varuna, lord of cosmic law, bows to thy office. Thou art honored in the heavens and upon the earth. All the gods know thy name and speak thy praise.
Come now to our fire-altar. Sit thou upon the sacred logs. Consume the butter and the grain that we offer with gladness. Hear the hymn of the Atri sages, who have honored thee from ancient days. Let thy flames rise upward, bright and unwavering, until they touch the very vault of heaven.
We entrust to thee all that is precious—our hopes, our children, our future prosperity. Be thou faithful, O Agni, as thou hast ever been. For in thee lives the continuity of all sacred things.
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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda V.18
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.
prātar agniḥ purupriyo viśaḥ stavetātithiḥ |
viśvāni yo amartyo havyā marteṣu raṇyati || 1 ||
dvitāya mṛktavāhase svasya dakṣasya maṁhanā |
induṁ sa dhatta ānuṣak stotā cit te amartya || 2 ||
taṁ vo dīrghāyuśociṣaṁ girā huve maghonām |
ariṣṭo yeṣāṁ ratho vy aśvadāvann īyate || 3 ||
citrā vā yeṣu dīdhitir āsann ukthā pānti ye |
stīrṇam barhiḥ svarṇare śravāṁsi dadhire pari || 4 ||
ye me pañcāśataṁ dadur aśvānāṁ sadhastuti |
dyumad agne mahi śravo bṛhat kṛdhi maghonāṁ nṛvad amṛta nṛṇām || 5 ||
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).
🌲