Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.42 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.
O Indra, lord of wealth and storehouses full to the brim,
Whose hand doth fill the larders and whose eye doth never dim—
We praise Thee, giver of the herd, the cattle and the grain,
The prosperity that falleth like the mercy of the rain.
When Indra drinketh Soma at the break of festive dawn,
His strength increaseth mightily; the powers of the gone
Do flee before His majesty. The heavens split and pour
Their waters forth in abundance—hark! The Maruts roar!
The herds do multiply beneath His benediction bright;
The bulls grow strong and glistering in the glory of His sight.
The cows do give their milk in streams; the calves do grow apace;
The farmer's field doth overflow with the abundance of His grace.
The storehouses of the faithful swell with golden measure heaped,
With barley, wheat, and riches that the Thunderer hath reaped
From the great cosmos and bestowed upon the house of prayer—
Whoever giveth Soma-praise shall find abundance there.
The children multiply like leaves upon the verdant tree;
The wives bear sons of valor, full of strength and majesty.
The herds do fatten in the pasture; milk doth run like streams;
The home doth prosper ever, passing all of mortal dreams.
O Indra, guardian of prosperity, we sing Thy praise—
Grant us Thy bounty unending through our nights and days.
Make full our barns and multiplied our herds without an end,
And be Thou ever to our house the most abundant friend.
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.42
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.
praty asmai pipīṣate viśvāni viduṣe bhara |
araṁgamāya jagmaye 'paścāddaghvane nare || 1 ||
em enam pratyetana somebhiḥ somapātamam |
amatrebhir ṛjīṣiṇam indraṁ sutebhir indubhiḥ || 2 ||
yadī sutebhir indubhiḥ somebhiḥ pratibhūṣatha |
vedā viśvasya medhiro dhṛṣat taṁ-tam id eṣate || 3 ||
asmā-asmā id andhaso 'dhvaryo pra bharā sutam |
kuvit samasya jenyasya śardhato 'bhiśaster avasparat || 4 ||
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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