Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VI.14 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.
Thou art the voice of mortals raised toward heaven, O Agni! When the priest speaks the sacred mantra before thy flame, dost thou not take up that prayer and amplify it? The words that leave the human mouth are weak and frail—they rise no higher than the height of a man's outstretched arm. But thou, O Agni, when thou speakest, thy voice carries to the uttermost reaches of the cosmos. The gods themselves incline their ears.
It is through thy voice that the offering becomes effective. The ghee that is poured upon the fire seems a pittance, a morsel too insignificant for the gods to notice—yet through thee it is transformed. Thy flames catch the offering and carry it across the vast distances that separate heaven from earth. In thy mouth, the barley becomes ambrosia. In thy heat, the oil becomes the drink of immortality.
Without thee, O Agni, what is our prayer? A whisper lost in the wind! What is our sacrifice? A handful of ashes scattered upon the ground! But thou givest our offerings voice. Thou makest them audible to the infinite. The gods hear because thou speakest on our behalf. Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman—all the celestial powers attend when Agni invokes their names.
The Bhāradvājas kindle thee and make their petition. We do not shout; we do not strain our voices. We sing softly, knowing that thou wilt take our words and raise them to the heavens with the power of thy divine speech. We place our trust in thy mediation. We depend upon thy eloquence.
O Agni, greatest of invokers! Speak our prayer before the assembled gods. Make our offering acceptable in their sight. Give us thy voice, that we may be heard in the high places.
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.14
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.
agnā yo martyo duvo dhiyaṁ jujoṣa dhītibhiḥ |
bhasan nu ṣa pra pūrvya iṣaṁ vurītāvase || 1 ||
agnir id dhi pracetā agnir vedhastama ṛṣiḥ |
agniṁ hotāram īḻate yajñeṣu manuṣo viśaḥ || 2 ||
nānā hy a1gne 'vase spardhante rāyo aryaḥ |
tūrvanto dasyum āyavo vrataiḥ sīkṣanto avratam || 3 ||
agnir apsām ṛtīṣahaṁ vīraṁ dadāti satpatim |
yasya trasanti śavasaḥ saṁcakṣi śatravo bhiyā || 4 ||
agnir hi vidmanā nido devo martam uruṣyati |
sahāvā yasyāvṛto rayir vājeṣv avṛtaḥ || 5 ||
acchā no mitramaho deva devān agne vocaḥ sumatiṁ rodasyoḥ |
vīhi svastiṁ sukṣitiṁ divo nṝn dviṣo aṁhāṁsi duritā tarema tā tarema tavāvasā tarema || 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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