Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.28 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 cattle, blessed creatures, gift of the gods,
Ye that do give us milk and flesh and hide,
Ye that do labor in the field and plow,
Praise be unto you, honor and delight.
II.
The cow doth give her milk to feed the infant,
The butter melted bright for sacred rites,
The leather for the warrior's shield and armor,
The sinew strong for bows and tools of craft.
III.
In times of plenty and in times of hunger,
The cattle stand as wealth beyond all measure,
The man who keepeth cows doth keep his fortune,
The man who loseth them doth know despair.
IV.
The bull doth plow the field with mighty strength,
And drag the harvest homeward when the grain is gathered,
O noble beast, thou servant of mankind,
We honor thee and give thee all due praise.
V.
The cow doth wander through the meadows green,
And graze upon the grass that springeth forth,
She turneth it to milk most sweet and precious,
A miracle of nature and of time.
VI.
O Indra, grant us herds both vast and thriving,
Let no disease or evil touch them down,
Let wolves and thieves keep far from out our cattle,
And let them multiply like stars in heaven.
VII.
The maiden tends the cows with gentle kindness,
The boy doth learn the arts of herding well,
From childhood onward through the span of lifetime,
The cattle are the foundation of our life.
VIII.
In the sacred sacrifices, we remember
The cattle that do give their lives for us,
We thank them for the bounty of their being,
And honor them as servants of the gods.
IX.
O blessed cattle, ye who are so noble,
May you be blessed and prosper all your days,
May you graze forever in green pastures,
And may we care for you with grateful hearts.
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.28
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.
ā gāvo agmann uta bhadram akran sīdantu goṣṭhe raṇayantv asme |
prajāvatīḥ pururūpā iha syur indrāya pūrvīr uṣaso duhānāḥ || 1 ||
indro yajvane pṛṇate ca śikṣaty uped dadāti na svam muṣāyati |
bhūyo-bhūyo rayim id asya vardhayann abhinne khilye ni dadhāti devayum || 2 ||
na tā naśanti na dabhāti taskaro nāsām āmitro vyathir ā dadharṣati |
devām̐ś ca yābhir yajate dadāti ca jyog it tābhiḥ sacate gopatiḥ saha || 3 ||
na tā arvā reṇukakāṭo aśnute na saṁskṛtatram upa yanti tā abhi |
urugāyam abhayaṁ tasya tā anu gāvo martasya vi caranti yajvanaḥ || 4 ||
gāvo bhago gāva indro me acchān gāvaḥ somasya prathamasya bhakṣaḥ |
imā yā gāvaḥ sa janāsa indra icchāmīd dhṛdā manasā cid indram || 5 ||
yūyaṁ gāvo medayathā kṛśaṁ cid aśrīraṁ cit kṛṇuthā supratīkam |
bhadraṁ gṛhaṁ kṛṇutha bhadravāco bṛhad vo vaya ucyate sabhāsu || 6 ||
prajāvatīḥ sūyavasaṁ riśantīḥ śuddhā apaḥ suprapāṇe pibantīḥ |
mā vaḥ stena īśata māghaśaṁsaḥ pari vo hetī rudrasya vṛjyāḥ || 7 ||
upedam upaparcanam āsu goṣūpa pṛcyatām |
upa ṛṣabhasya retasy upendra tava vīrye || 8 ||
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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