Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.8 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 Agni, thou art guardian and protector!
Around this dwelling thou dost set a wall
More strong than any fashioned out of stone,
More impenetrable than bronze or iron.
The rākṣasas that prowl the endless darkness,
The demons hungry for the flesh of men,
Do flee away when thou dost come to burning,
For they cannot endure thy holy light.
What power hath any evil creature
Against thy flames that leap toward the heavens?
They shrivel up before thy burning heat,
And scatter like the fog before the sun.
Thou watchest through the long and dreadful night,
When mortals sleep defenseless in their chambers.
Thy flames do burn in vigilance eternal,
Thy eyes do see what mortal eyes cannot.
No sorcery can touch the man protected
By Agni's care and Agni's constant watching.
No curse can find its target through thy fire,
No evil prayer can ever reach his heart.
The witch-women who seek to work their mischief,
Who twist their hands and whisper words of power—
They find their magic broken in thy presence,
Their spells dissolve like ice before thy heat.
O Agni, be our shield and our defender!
Keep watch this night as thou hast kept it always,
That we may sleep secure within our dwelling,
Protected by the sacred flame eternal.
Grant us thy courage that we fear no evil,
Thy strength that we endure all tribulation,
Thy light that all the darkness shall be banished,
And we shall dwell in safety all our days.
For he who trusteth in thy vigilance,
Who keeps thy altar burning through the night,
Shall know no fear, no sorrow, no affliction—
The gods themselves shall guard him from all harm.
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.8
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.
tvām agna ṛtāyavaḥ sam īdhire pratnam pratnāsa ūtaye sahaskṛta |
puruścandraṁ yajataṁ viśvadhāyasaṁ damūnasaṁ gṛhapatiṁ vareṇyam || 1 ||
tvām agne atithim pūrvyaṁ viśaḥ śociṣkeśaṁ gṛhapatiṁ ni ṣedire |
bṛhatketum pururūpaṁ dhanaspṛtaṁ suśarmāṇaṁ svavasaṁ jaradviṣam || 2 ||
tvām agne mānuṣīr īḻate viśo hotrāvidaṁ viviciṁ ratnadhātamam |
guhā santaṁ subhaga viśvadarśataṁ tuviṣvaṇasaṁ suyajaṁ ghṛtaśriyam || 3 ||
tvām agne dharṇasiṁ viśvadhā vayaṁ gīrbhir gṛṇanto namasopa sedima |
sa no juṣasva samidhāno aṅgiro devo martasya yaśasā sudītibhiḥ || 4 ||
tvam agne pururūpo viśe-viśe vayo dadhāsi pratnathā puruṣṭuta |
purūṇy annā sahasā vi rājasi tviṣiḥ sā te titviṣāṇasya nādhṛṣe || 5 ||
tvām agne samidhānaṁ yaviṣṭhya devā dūtaṁ cakrire havyavāhanam |
urujrayasaṁ ghṛtayonim āhutaṁ tveṣaṁ cakṣur dadhire codayanmati || 6 ||
tvām agne pradiva āhutaṁ ghṛtaiḥ sumnāyavaḥ suṣamidhā sam īdhire |
sa vāvṛdhāna oṣadhībhir ukṣito3 'bhi jrayāṁsi pārthivā vi tiṣṭhase || 7 ||
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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