Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.24 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.
I.
O Indra the generous, whose hand doth never refuse,
Who giveth unto all that call upon thy name,
The poor man and the rich man, the stranger and the kinsman,
All do receive thy gifts and thy abundant grace.
II.
Thy treasures are as vast as all the oceans,
Thy riches flow like rivers to the sea,
No man can count the gifts that thou dost give,
Yet thy abundance never doth grow less.
III.
The man who giveth soma unto thee
Doth find his fields grow thick with golden grain,
His cattle multiply like the sands of the desert,
His children grow to strength and to renown.
IV.
But he who faileth to remember thee,
Who turneth from thy altar and thy fire,
Shall find his fortune dwindle like the moon,
And poverty shall cling unto his house.
V.
O generous Indra, look upon thy worshippers,
See how we pour the soma at thy feet,
With hands uplifted high we call upon thee,
Begging thy gifts and begging thy good will.
VI.
Give us the cattle, give us gold and riches,
Give us the sons who shall be mighty warriors,
Give us the daughters fair and full of grace,
And let us live in plenty all our days.
VII.
Thou art the giver of all good fortune,
The guardian of the homes of mortal men,
All blessings flow from thee unto thy children,
All joy and all good health doth come from thee.
VIII.
O Indra, let us stand forever in thy favor,
Let us not fall away from thy great grace,
But keep us near unto thy heart forever,
That we may share thy bounty and thy love.
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.24
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.
vṛṣā mada indre śloka ukthā sacā someṣu sutapā ṛjīṣī |
arcatryo maghavā nṛbhya ukthair dyukṣo rājā girām akṣitotiḥ || 1 ||
taturir vīro naryo vicetāḥ śrotā havaṁ gṛṇata urvyūtiḥ |
vasuḥ śaṁso narāṁ kārudhāyā vājī stuto vidathe dāti vājam || 2 ||
akṣo na cakryoḥ śūra bṛhan pra te mahnā ririce rodasyoḥ |
vṛkṣasya nu te puruhūta vayā vy ū3tayo ruruhur indra pūrvīḥ || 3 ||
śacīvatas te puruśāka śākā gavām iva srutayaḥ saṁcaraṇīḥ |
vatsānāṁ na tantayas ta indra dāmanvanto adāmānaḥ sudāman || 4 ||
anyad adya karvaram anyad u śvo 'sac ca san muhur ācakrir indraḥ |
mitro no atra varuṇaś ca pūṣāryo vaśasya paryetāsti || 5 ||
vi tvad āpo na parvatasya pṛṣṭhād ukthebhir indrānayanta yajñaiḥ |
taṁ tvābhiḥ suṣṭutibhir vājayanta ājiṁ na jagmur girvāho aśvāḥ || 6 ||
na yaṁ jaranti śarado na māsā na dyāva indram avakarśayanti |
vṛddhasya cid vardhatām asya tanūḥ stomebhir ukthaiś ca śasyamānā || 7 ||
na vīḻave namate na sthirāya na śardhate dasyujūtāya stavān |
ajrā indrasya girayaś cid ṛṣvā gambhīre cid bhavati gādham asmai || 8 ||
gambhīreṇa na uruṇāmatrin preṣo yandhi sutapāvan vājān |
sthā ū ṣu ūrdhva ūtī ariṣaṇyann aktor vyuṣṭau paritakmyāyām || 9 ||
sacasva nāyam avase abhīka ito vā tam indra pāhi riṣaḥ |
amā cainam araṇye pāhi riṣo madema śatahimāḥ suvīrāḥ || 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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