Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VI.12 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 6 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.
When Agni blazes, the darkness flees! The night that held dominion over the earth, that seemed eternal and inevitable, is scattered like dust before the chariot wheels of Indra. One moment the world lies in shadow, formless and perilous; the next, thy flames ignite, and behold—the mountains stand revealed, the forests become visible, the pathways shine with clarity.
The demons who dwell in darkness tremble at thy coming, O Agni! Those rakṣasas who feed upon ignorance and shadow find their sustenance burned away. Thou art the destroyer of their kingdom. The asuras who plot against the gods and their worshippers—do they not fear the moment thy light reaches their hidden lairs? Their schemes are exposed. Their deceptions are unmade in the burning brilliance of thy presence.
What is ignorance but a shadow? What is delusion but the darkness that covers the eye when the light of truth is absent? Thou burnest away all false knowledge, O Agni. The man who sits before thy fire sees clearly. Illusions crumble. Deceptions lose their power. The world appears as it truly is—not as the demons would have it appear, but as the gods know it to be.
We kindle thee, Agni, as the eternal destroyer of falsehood. In this age of confusion and shadow, we call upon thee to burn away the darkness that clouds the mind and heart. Let thy flames consume the lies we tell ourselves. Let thy heat drive out the cold fear that breeds deceit.
O purifying fire, thou who revealest truth! Guard us with thy brilliant light. Let no shadow of ignorance take root where thy rays fall. Thou art the sentry at the gate of the cosmos, ever vigilant, ever burning, ever revealing.
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 VI.12
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.
madhye hotā duroṇe barhiṣo rāḻ agnis todasya rodasī yajadhyai |
ayaṁ sa sūnuḥ sahasa ṛtāvā dūrāt sūryo na śociṣā tatāna || 1 ||
ā yasmin tve sv apāke yajatra yakṣad rājan sarvatāteva nu dyauḥ |
triṣadhasthas tataruṣo na jaṁho havyā maghāni mānuṣā yajadhyai || 2 ||
tejiṣṭhā yasyāratir vanerāṭ todo adhvan na vṛdhasāno adyaut |
adrogho na dravitā cetati tmann amartyo 'vartra oṣadhīṣu || 3 ||
sāsmākebhir etarī na śūṣair agniḥ ṣṭave dama ā jātavedāḥ |
drvanno vanvan kratvā nārvosraḥ piteva jārayāyi yajñaiḥ || 4 ||
adha smāsya panayanti bhāso vṛthā yat takṣad anuyāti pṛthvīm |
sadyo yaḥ syandro viṣito dhavīyān ṛṇo na tāyur ati dhanvā rāṭ || 5 ||
sa tvaṁ no arvan nidāyā viśvebhir agne agnibhir idhānaḥ |
veṣi rāyo vi yāsi ducchunā madema śatahimāḥ suvīrāḥ || 6 ||
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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