Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.40 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.
The thunderbolt! O terrible and glorious tool of war,
Forged in the smithy of the sky by Tvaṣṭṛ's hand of power and more—
The Āditya gave it shape; the gods did set it bright,
And Indra took it in His grip, that weapon of His might.
What is this vajra, golden-hued, that cleaveth through the air?
'Tis lightning fast and thunder-loud, beyond all mortal prayer.
When Indra hurl'd it at the breast of Vṛtra, dark and fell,
The titan-serpent reel'd and died—One strike! He broke the spell.
The rod doth quiver in His hand like serpent wrath uncoiled;
Its radiance filleth heaven's vault; by neither rust nor spoil
Can it be tarnished or reduced. 'Tis indestructible as fate,
Eternal as the Thunderer, inexorable, first-rate.
Each time the arm of Indra lifts the vajra to the sky,
The clouds do rupture into rain, and all the Dāsas cry
In agony and terror as the weapon falleth down—
No fortress wall, no shield, no spell can turn it from its crown.
The very air doth vibrate with the sound of its descent;
The earth doth quake; the waters roar; all nature is intent
Upon the terrible display of power without peer.
O vajra, golden instrument of victory and fear!
Come forth, O Indra, wielder of the thunderbolt supreme,
And let Thy weapon shine upon the world like solar gleam.
For those who worship Thee in truth shall never taste defeat—
The vajra guardeth all the good and maketh all things sweet.
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.40
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.
indra piba tubhyaṁ suto madāyāva sya harī vi mucā sakhāyā |
uta pra gāya gaṇa ā niṣadyāthā yajñāya gṛṇate vayo dhāḥ || 1 ||
asya piba yasya jajñāna indra madāya kratve apibo virapśin |
tam u te gāvo nara āpo adrir induṁ sam ahyan pītaye sam asmai || 2 ||
samiddhe agnau suta indra soma ā tvā vahantu harayo vahiṣṭhāḥ |
tvāyatā manasā johavīmīndrā yāhi suvitāya mahe naḥ || 3 ||
ā yāhi śaśvad uśatā yayāthendra mahā manasā somapeyam |
upa brahmāṇi śṛṇava imā no 'thā te yajñas tanve3 vayo dhāt || 4 ||
yad indra divi pārye yad ṛdhag yad vā sve sadane yatra vāsi |
ato no yajñam avase niyutvān sajoṣāḥ pāhi girvaṇo marudbhiḥ || 5 ||
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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