Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VII.82 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 7 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.
We sing the praise of Indra and Varuṇa together! O mighty pair, who rule the earth and heaven! Indra, the warrior with the thunderbolt; Varuṇa, the king with the cosmic law. One is the power of action; the other is the power of order.
Indra, thou art the storm that rages and destroys! Thy bolt of lightning doth split the sky; thy thunder doth shake the mountains. When thou dost unleash thy fury, the demons do tremble; the enemies do flee in panic. The rivers themselves do flee before thee, seeking safety in the distant seas.
Yet Varuṇa, thou art the one who ordaineth all things according to law. Thou art the watcher who keepeth vigil over all the worlds. Nothing escapeth thy notice; nothing escapeth thy judgment. The sun followeth thy ordinance; the stars obey thy command. The very fabric of the cosmos is woven from thy wisdom and thy will.
Together, ye do complement one another. Where Indra is the flash and the fury, Varuṇa is the constancy and the calm. Where Indra is the breaking-forth of power, Varuṇa is the underlying structure that giveth that power meaning and purpose.
Come, ye mighty ones! Accept our offering! Drink ye of the soma that we have pressed! Let thy strength be renewed; let thy glory shine forth! We mortals do depend upon you both.
For if there were only Indra without Varuṇa, the world would be naught but chaos—a wild storm with no direction, no purpose, no meaning. All would be destroyed; all would be brought to nothingness.
And if there were only Varuṇa without Indra, the world would be naught but stone—fixed, immobile, dead. Nothing would change; nothing would grow; nothing would be born.
But with both, we have the perfect balance. We have the storm that refresheth the earth with rain; we have the order that causeth the rain to fall in the right season. We have the warrior who defendeth us from our enemies; we have the sovereign who ensureth that all disputes are settled justly.
O Indra and Varuṇa! Grant us thy protection! Make us strong in battle and just in our dealings! Cause our enemies to flee, and our friends to prosper! Let our crops grow tall; let our herds multiply; let our children be born healthy and strong!
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 VII.82
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.
indrāvaruṇā yuvam adhvarāya no viśe janāya mahi śarma yacchatam |
dīrghaprayajyum ati yo vanuṣyati vayaṁ jayema pṛtanāsu dūḍhyaḥ || 1 ||
samrāḻ anyaḥ svarāḻ anya ucyate vām mahāntāv indrāvaruṇā mahāvasū |
viśve devāsaḥ parame vyomani saṁ vām ojo vṛṣaṇā sam balaṁ dadhuḥ || 2 ||
anv apāṁ khāny atṛntam ojasā sūryam airayataṁ divi prabhum |
indrāvaruṇā made asya māyino 'pinvatam apitaḥ pinvataṁ dhiyaḥ || 3 ||
yuvām id yutsu pṛtanāsu vahnayo yuvāṁ kṣemasya prasave mitajñavaḥ |
īśānā vasva ubhayasya kārava indrāvaruṇā suhavā havāmahe || 4 ||
indrāvaruṇā yad imāni cakrathur viśvā jātāni bhuvanasya majmanā |
kṣemeṇa mitro varuṇaṁ duvasyati marudbhir ugraḥ śubham anya īyate || 5 ||
mahe śulkāya varuṇasya nu tviṣa ojo mimāte dhruvam asya yat svam |
ajāmim anyaḥ śnathayantam ātirad dabhrebhir anyaḥ pra vṛṇoti bhūyasaḥ || 6 ||
na tam aṁho na duritāni martyam indrāvaruṇā na tapaḥ kutaś cana |
yasya devā gacchatho vītho adhvaraṁ na tam martasya naśate parihvṛtiḥ || 7 ||
arvāṅ narā daivyenāvasā gataṁ śṛṇutaṁ havaṁ yadi me jujoṣathaḥ |
yuvor hi sakhyam uta vā yad āpyam mārḍīkam indrāvaruṇā ni yacchatam || 8 ||
asmākam indrāvaruṇā bhare-bhare puroyodhā bhavataṁ kṛṣṭyojasā |
yad vāṁ havanta ubhaye adha spṛdhi naras tokasya tanayasya sātiṣu || 9 ||
asme indro varuṇo mitro aryamā dyumnaṁ yacchantu mahi śarma saprathaḥ |
avadhraṁ jyotir aditer ṛtāvṛdho devasya ślokaṁ savitur manāmahe || 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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