Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.2 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.
Born again! O Agni, born anew!
Each dawn thou risest from the kindling wood,
As though no night hath ever dimmed thy radiance,
As though the dark had never touched thy form.
The sacred sticks do bear thee in their womb,
The friction of the drill doth give thee birth.
Thou emergest perfect, terrible, and golden—
The infant god who shineth like the sun.
Who knoweth thy beginning or thy ending?
For thou art both the ancient and the new.
With every dawn thou art begotten freshly,
Yet in thy heart the memory of all fires.
The mortals lift their hands to greet thy rising,
The priests cry out: "O Agni, thou hast come!"
For in thy blazing thou art life itself,
The heat that giveth being to all things.
Thou eatest the dry wood and makest it thy glory,
Transforming dross to light before our eyes.
What hideth not from thee? What can resist thee?
Thou penetratest all, thou showest all.
The mountains know thee, and the waters fear thee,
The winds do scatter what remains of thee.
Yet ever thou returnest in thy splendor,
Born fresh from friction, born from prayer and care.
O Agni, kindle in each heart this morning
The same bright flame that burneth in the sky!
Let us be born with thee in every sunrise,
Made new and pure and radiant as thee.
For blessed is the man who rises with thee,
Who greeteth the new day with open hands.
He shall not stumble, he shall not fear darkness—
The kindler of the dawn shall guard his path.
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.2
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.
kumāram mātā yuvatiḥ samubdhaṁ guhā bibharti na dadāti pitre |
anīkam asya na minaj janāsaḥ puraḥ paśyanti nihitam aratau || 1 ||
kam etaṁ tvaṁ yuvate kumāram peṣī bibharṣi mahiṣī jajāna |
pūrvīr hi garbhaḥ śarado vavardhāpaśyaṁ jātaṁ yad asūta mātā || 2 ||
hiraṇyadantaṁ śucivarṇam ārāt kṣetrād apaśyam āyudhā mimānam |
dadāno asmā amṛtaṁ vipṛkvat kim mām anindrāḥ kṛṇavann anukthāḥ || 3 ||
kṣetrād apaśyaṁ sanutaś carantaṁ sumad yūthaṁ na puru śobhamānam |
na tā agṛbhrann ajaniṣṭa hi ṣaḥ paliknīr id yuvatayo bhavanti || 4 ||
ke me maryakaṁ vi yavanta gobhir na yeṣāṁ gopā araṇaś cid āsa |
ya īṁ jagṛbhur ava te sṛjantv ājāti paśva upa naś cikitvān || 5 ||
vasāṁ rājānaṁ vasatiṁ janānām arātayo ni dadhur martyeṣu |
brahmāṇy atrer ava taṁ sṛjantu ninditāro nindyāso bhavantu || 6 ||
śunaś cic chepaṁ niditaṁ sahasrād yūpād amuñco aśamiṣṭa hi ṣaḥ |
evāsmad agne vi mumugdhi pāśān hotaś cikitva iha tū niṣadya || 7 ||
hṛṇīyamāno apa hi mad aiyeḥ pra me devānāṁ vratapā uvāca |
indro vidvām̐ anu hi tvā cacakṣa tenāham agne anuśiṣṭa āgām || 8 ||
vi jyotiṣā bṛhatā bhāty agnir āvir viśvāni kṛṇute mahitvā |
prādevīr māyāḥ sahate durevāḥ śiśīte śṛṅge rakṣase vinikṣe || 9 ||
uta svānāso divi ṣantv agnes tigmāyudhā rakṣase hantavā u |
made cid asya pra rujanti bhāmā na varante paribādho adevīḥ || 10 ||
etaṁ te stomaṁ tuvijāta vipro rathaṁ na dhīraḥ svapā atakṣam |
yadīd agne prati tvaṁ deva haryāḥ svarvatīr apa enā jayema || 11 ||
tuvigrīvo vṛṣabho vāvṛdhāno 'śatrv a1ryaḥ sam ajāti vedaḥ |
itīmam agnim amṛtā avocan barhiṣmate manave śarma yaṁsad dhaviṣmate manave śarma yaṁsat || 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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