Hymn to Indra
Rigveda V.29 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.
O Indra, thou slayer of Vṛtra! Thou art the mighty one whose deeds are sung in the heavens and upon the earth. Before thy advent, the world was held in thrall by the serpent, and the waters were imprisoned in his coils. Drought reigned eternal; nothing could grow; all life withered toward extinction.
But thou didst rise up in thy fury, O Indra! Thy voice thundered across the sky like ten thousand drums beaten at once. The mountains trembled at thy approach. The demons fled before thee. With thy weapon, the Vajra, thou didst strike the serpent down. The monster fell, sundered in his very essence, unable even to gather the strength to cry out as he died.
When thou didst slay Vṛtra, the waters burst forth in torrents! The rivers rushed down from the mountains, carving new canyons as they ran. The rains fell in sheets of silver. Everywhere, the parched earth drank deep of the life-giving liquid. Grass sprang up where once was only dust. The trees put forth their leaves in frantic haste, racing to catch up on a thousand cycles of missed seasons.
And thou, O Indra, didst bathe in the waters of thy victory! Thou drank deep of the soma that the grateful mortals offered thee. The intoxication seized thee; thou staggered with the ecstasy of triumph and divine pleasure. For thou hadst accomplished what no other god could do. Thou hadst freed the world from its bondage. Thou hadst restored the possibility of existence itself.
What would we do without thee, O warrior god? We would perish with the land, our children would never know green valleys, our herds would find no pasture, our crops would never swell with grain. But thou hast secured for us the possibility of life itself through thy terrible courage and thy mighty strength.
Accept our praise, O Indra! Let thy thunder roll across the skies. Let thy rain fall upon our fields. Guard us against all threats, O slayer of Vṛtra, as thou hast guarded all the worlds.
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.29
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.
try aryamā manuṣo devatātā trī rocanā divyā dhārayanta |
arcanti tvā marutaḥ pūtadakṣās tvam eṣām ṛṣir indrāsi dhīraḥ || 1 ||
anu yad īm maruto mandasānam ārcann indram papivāṁsaṁ sutasya |
ādatta vajram abhi yad ahiṁ hann apo yahvīr asṛjat sartavā u || 2 ||
uta brahmāṇo maruto me asyendraḥ somasya suṣutasya peyāḥ |
tad dhi havyam manuṣe gā avindad ahann ahim papivām̐ indro asya || 3 ||
ād rodasī vitaraṁ vi ṣkabhāyat saṁvivyānaś cid bhiyase mṛgaṁ kaḥ |
jigartim indro apajargurāṇaḥ prati śvasantam ava dānavaṁ han || 4 ||
adha kratvā maghavan tubhyaṁ devā anu viśve adaduḥ somapeyam |
yat sūryasya haritaḥ patantīḥ puraḥ satīr uparā etaśe kaḥ || 5 ||
nava yad asya navatiṁ ca bhogān sākaṁ vajreṇa maghavā vivṛścat |
arcantīndram marutaḥ sadhasthe traiṣṭubhena vacasā bādhata dyām || 6 ||
sakhā sakhye apacat tūyam agnir asya kratvā mahiṣā trī śatāni |
trī sākam indro manuṣaḥ sarāṁsi sutam pibad vṛtrahatyāya somam || 7 ||
trī yac chatā mahiṣāṇām agho mās trī sarāṁsi maghavā somyāpāḥ |
kāraṁ na viśve ahvanta devā bharam indrāya yad ahiṁ jaghāna || 8 ||
uśanā yat sahasyai3r ayātaṁ gṛham indra jūjuvānebhir aśvaiḥ |
vanvāno atra sarathaṁ yayātha kutsena devair avanor ha śuṣṇam || 9 ||
prānyac cakram avṛhaḥ sūryasya kutsāyānyad varivo yātave 'kaḥ |
anāso dasyūm̐r amṛṇo vadhena ni duryoṇa āvṛṇaṅ mṛdhravācaḥ || 10 ||
stomāsas tvā gaurivīter avardhann arandhayo vaidathināya piprum |
ā tvām ṛjiśvā sakhyāya cakre pacan paktīr apibaḥ somam asya || 11 ||
navagvāsaḥ sutasomāsa indraṁ daśagvāso abhy arcanty arkaiḥ |
gavyaṁ cid ūrvam apidhānavantaṁ taṁ cin naraḥ śaśamānā apa vran || 12 ||
katho nu te pari carāṇi vidvān vīryā maghavan yā cakartha |
yā co nu navyā kṛṇavaḥ śaviṣṭha pred u tā te vidatheṣu bravāma || 13 ||
etā viśvā cakṛvām̐ indra bhūry aparīto januṣā vīryeṇa |
yā cin nu vajrin kṛṇavo dadhṛṣvān na te vartā taviṣyā asti tasyāḥ || 14 ||
indra brahma kriyamāṇā juṣasva yā te śaviṣṭha navyā akarma |
vastreva bhadrā sukṛtā vasūyū rathaṁ na dhīraḥ svapā atakṣam || 15 ||
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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