Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VII.85 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 have kindled the fire; we have pressed the soma. We have gathered here to sing your praises, O Indra and Varuṇa. Hear our voices! Turn thy faces toward us! Accept our devotion!
Thou art the two pillars upon which the cosmos doth rest. Without thee, all would fall into chaos and darkness. But with thee, we are secure. With thee, we are blessed. With thee, we are safe.
Come, ye mighty ones! Come and dwell with us! Share in our feast! Join us in this celebration of thy greatness! And when thou dost depart, leave behind thy blessings, that we may prosper all the days of our lives!
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 VII.85
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.
punīṣe vām arakṣasam manīṣāṁ somam indrāya varuṇāya juhvat |
ghṛtapratīkām uṣasaṁ na devīṁ tā no yāmann uruṣyatām abhīke || 1 ||
spardhante vā u devahūye atra yeṣu dhvajeṣu didyavaḥ patanti |
yuvaṁ tām̐ indrāvaruṇāv amitrān hatam parācaḥ śarvā viṣūcaḥ || 2 ||
āpaś cid dhi svayaśasaḥ sadaḥsu devīr indraṁ varuṇaṁ devatā dhuḥ |
kṛṣṭīr anyo dhārayati praviktā vṛtrāṇy anyo apratīni hanti || 3 ||
sa sukratur ṛtacid astu hotā ya āditya śavasā vāṁ namasvān |
āvavartad avase vāṁ haviṣmān asad it sa suvitāya prayasvān || 4 ||
iyam indraṁ varuṇam aṣṭa me gīḥ prāvat toke tanaye tūtujānā |
suratnāso devavītiṁ gamema yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 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).
🌲