Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.29 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, thou of great and mighty deeds,
Whose glory filleth all the three worlds round,
Whose strength surpasseth every other power,
Come now and hear the hymn of thy great praise.
II.
What hero could have done the deeds thou hast done?
What god could stand beside thee in the fight?
Thou art alone in might and in dominion,
The greatest of all powers, great and small.
III.
The mountains were laid low before thy power,
The rivers turned their courses at thy command,
The heavens and the earth do bow before thee,
And all the deities do show thee honor.
IV.
Thou didst rescue Mātariśvan from the eagle's grip,
That he might bring the fire unto mankind,
Thou didst release the waters from the demon's hold,
That they might flow and water all the earth.
V.
The soma that the gods do drink in heaven
Is guarded well by thee, O mighty one,
Thou givest it to those whom thou dost favor,
And withholdest it from those who turn away.
VI.
All the great powers of the cosmos answer unto thee,
They do thy will and carry out thy purpose,
The sun, the moon, the stars do shine at thy command,
The winds do blow and the rains do fall.
VII.
O Indra, thou who art the friend of mortals,
Who listenest to the prayers of those in need,
Accept our offering, accept our praises,
Let us walk ever in the light of thy protection.
VIII.
Grant us to see thy glory all the days of life,
To know thy power, to feel thy guiding hand,
Let us not stumble from the righteous path,
But keep us ever moving toward thy light.
IX.
O mighty Indra, mighty beyond measure,
Accept the love that we do bear for thee,
We praise thy name, we sing thy deeds eternal,
And trust that thou wilt ever guard us well.
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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda VI.29
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.
indraṁ vo naraḥ sakhyāya sepur maho yantaḥ sumataye cakānāḥ |
maho hi dātā vajrahasto asti mahām u raṇvam avase yajadhvam || 1 ||
ā yasmin haste naryā mimikṣur ā rathe hiraṇyaye ratheṣṭhāḥ |
ā raśmayo gabhastyoḥ sthūrayor ādhvann aśvāso vṛṣaṇo yujānāḥ || 2 ||
śriye te pādā duva ā mimikṣur dhṛṣṇur vajrī śavasā dakṣiṇāvān |
vasāno atkaṁ surabhiṁ dṛśe kaṁ sva1r ṇa nṛtav iṣiro babhūtha || 3 ||
sa soma āmiślatamaḥ suto bhūd yasmin paktiḥ pacyate santi dhānāḥ |
indraṁ naraḥ stuvanto brahmakārā ukthā śaṁsanto devavātatamāḥ || 4 ||
na te antaḥ śavaso dhāyy asya vi tu bābadhe rodasī mahitvā |
ā tā sūriḥ pṛṇati tūtujāno yūthevāpsu samījamāna ūtī || 5 ||
eved indraḥ suhava ṛṣvo astūtī anūtī hiriśipraḥ satvā |
evā hi jāto asamātyojāḥ purū ca vṛtrā hanati ni dasyūn || 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).
🌲