Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VI.13 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.
O Agni, thou art closer to us than any god! The distant deities dwell in the high places—Indra upon the mountain, Varuṇa in his cosmic palace, Sūrya in the chariot of the sky. But thou—thou sittest in our very hearth. Thou art the god of the home, the companion of the family, the silent witness to all that transpires within our walls.
Thou knowest the joy of the newborn child, for thou burnest the fires of celebration when life enters the world. Thou knowest the sorrow of the funeral pyre, for it is thou who carriest the dead to the ancestors. In the morning when the cook kindles thee to prepare the family meal, thou art there. In the evening when the weary traveler approaches the hearthfire and feels thy warmth restore his numbed limbs, thou art merciful and kind.
Every family has its own Agni, and every Agni is truly thee! The woman who tends thee daily knows thy temperament, thy needs, thy moods. She feeds thee dried dung and wood; she prays to thee for the welfare of her children. She does not stand at a distance and cry out in formal petition. She speaks to thee as a mother speaks to a child—with familiarity, with love, with the intimacy of long acquaintance.
The Bhāradvājas honor thee not as a distant power, but as a friend dwelling beneath their roof. Thou art the keeper of their secrets, the witness of their honest words, the warmer of their cold nights. When the family gathers around thee, all are equal in thy sight.
O Agni, merciful and near! Accept our simple offerings. We are not gods, and we do not pretend to grandeur before thee. We are mortals who know thee as the closest of the divine. Remain with us always.
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.13
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.
tvad viśvā subhaga saubhagāny agne vi yanti vanino na vayāḥ |
śruṣṭī rayir vājo vṛtratūrye divo vṛṣṭir īḍyo rītir apām || 1 ||
tvam bhago na ā hi ratnam iṣe parijmeva kṣayasi dasmavarcāḥ |
agne mitro na bṛhata ṛtasyāsi kṣattā vāmasya deva bhūreḥ || 2 ||
sa satpatiḥ śavasā hanti vṛtram agne vipro vi paṇer bharti vājam |
yaṁ tvam praceta ṛtajāta rāyā sajoṣā naptrāpāṁ hinoṣi || 3 ||
yas te sūno sahaso gīrbhir ukthair yajñair marto niśitiṁ vedyānaṭ |
viśvaṁ sa deva prati vāram agne dhatte dhānya1m patyate vasavyaiḥ || 4 ||
tā nṛbhya ā sauśravasā suvīrāgne sūno sahasaḥ puṣyase dhāḥ |
kṛṇoṣi yac chavasā bhūri paśvo vayo vṛkāyāraye jasuraye || 5 ||
vadmā sūno sahaso no vihāyā agne tokaṁ tanayaṁ vāji no dāḥ |
viśvābhir gīrbhir abhi pūrtim aśyām 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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