Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.6 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.
Swift messenger! O Agni, thou dost carry
Our trembling prayers up to the gods on high.
None other is so swift, none else so faithful
In bearing what we offer to the Immortals.
Thou takest up the clarified butter,
Thou grasps't the grains, the meat, the precious gifts,
And carriest them through the vaults of heaven
To those who dwell in light beyond our seeing.
What speed hath thou! The winds are slow beside thee,
The eagle's flight is sluggish to thy rising.
Thy flames do race along the path to godhood
Swift as a thought from mortal mind to heart.
And thou returnest not with empty hands!
Thou bringest back the blessings of the Immortals,
Their favor, their protection, and their bounty,
Distributed to all who trust in thee.
O Agni, thou art trustworthy and faithful.
No bribe could sway thee, no temptation turn thee
From thy appointed task of carrying upward
The sacred offerings of the Atri clan.
The gods do know thee well, and they do love thee.
They look for thee each morning on the altar,
Impatient for the smoke that tells them plainly:
"Here comes again the messenger, the trusted one."
What honor to be chosen for this office!
To bear the supplications of the mortal world,
And stand before the council of the Immortals
As the Atris' advocate and voice.
Go forth this dawn, O swift and faithful servant!
Take all our prayers, our hopes, our desperate needs,
And lay them at the feet of Indra mighty,
That he may bend his ear unto our pleas.
Return to us with blessings in abundance,
And let the gods smile down upon our people.
For we shall wait beside thy sacred fire,
Till thou returnest with the gods' replies.
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.6
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.
agniṁ tam manye yo vasur astaṁ yaṁ yanti dhenavaḥ |
astam arvanta āśavo 'staṁ nityāso vājina iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 1 ||
so agnir yo vasur gṛṇe saṁ yam āyanti dhenavaḥ |
sam arvanto raghudruvaḥ saṁ sujātāsaḥ sūraya iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 2 ||
agnir hi vājinaṁ viśe dadāti viśvacarṣaṇiḥ |
agnī rāye svābhuvaṁ sa prīto yāti vāryam iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 3 ||
ā te agna idhīmahi dyumantaṁ devājaram |
yad dha syā te panīyasī samid dīdayati dyavīṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 4 ||
ā te agna ṛcā haviḥ śukrasya śociṣas pate |
suścandra dasma viśpate havyavāṭ tubhyaṁ hūyata iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 5 ||
pro tye agnayo 'gniṣu viśvam puṣyanti vāryam |
te hinvire ta invire ta iṣaṇyanty ānuṣag iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 6 ||
tava tye agne arcayo mahi vrādhanta vājinaḥ |
ye patvabhiḥ śaphānāṁ vrajā bhuranta gonām iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 7 ||
navā no agna ā bhara stotṛbhyaḥ sukṣitīr iṣaḥ |
te syāma ya ānṛcus tvādūtāso dame-dama iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 8 ||
ubhe suścandra sarpiṣo darvī śrīṇīṣa āsani |
uto na ut pupūryā uktheṣu śavasas pata iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 9 ||
evām̐ agnim ajuryamur gīrbhir yajñebhir ānuṣak |
dadhad asme suvīryam uta tyad āśvaśvyam iṣaṁ stotṛbhya ā bhara || 10 ||
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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