Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VII.94 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.
I sing the praise of Indra and Agni together! O mightiest of all the deities! O greatest of all divine powers! Hear my voice! Accept my devotion!
Indra, thou thunderer! When thou dost hurl thy bolt, mountains do crumble; demons do flee in terror; the very fabric of heaven is torn asunder. Yet thou art not cruel; thou art just. Thy violence serveth the purposes of righteousness. Thou slayest the wicked; thou protectest the righteous.
Agni, thou sacred fire! When thou dost blaze forth, the darkness is consumed; the cold is driven away; the earth is warmed and made fertile. Thy flames dance and leap; thy smoke riseth upward, carrying our prayers to the gods. Yet thou art not destructive; thou art creative. Thy fire transformeth all that it toucheth, making it pure and new.
Together, ye do rule this world and all the heavens. Where one goeth, the other followeth. Where one acteth, the other joineth in his work. Ye are inseparable; ye are eternal; ye are divine.
I have prepared the soma; I have kindled the fire. Come now, ye mighty ones! Come and drink of the juice! Come and feast upon the offering! Come and bless this gathering with thy presence!
The priests are assembled; the singers are ready; the whole community doth wait for thy coming. Come, O Indra! Come, O Agni! Come with all thy glory and all thy power! Make us strong; make us blessed; make us forever thy servants!
Pour forth thy blessings like rain upon the parched earth! Let thy favor fall upon us like the warm rays of the sun! Let thy kindness surround us like a protective wall! And when thou dost depart, leave behind thy love, thy blessing, thy watchful eye!
For as long as we live, O mighty ones, we shall remember thee. We shall kindle thy fire; we shall sing thy praises; we shall call upon thy name. And in the end, when our mortal lives do fade away, it is thy flames that shall consume us, preparing us for the final journey into the realm of the gods!
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.94
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.
iyaṁ vām asya manmana indrāgnī pūrvyastutiḥ |
abhrād vṛṣṭir ivājani || 1 ||
śṛṇutaṁ jaritur havam indrāgnī vanataṁ giraḥ |
īśānā pipyataṁ dhiyaḥ || 2 ||
mā pāpatvāya no narendrāgnī mābhiśastaye |
mā no rīradhataṁ nide || 3 ||
indre agnā namo bṛhat suvṛktim erayāmahe |
dhiyā dhenā avasyavaḥ || 4 ||
tā hi śaśvanta īḻata itthā viprāsa ūtaye |
sabādho vājasātaye || 5 ||
tā vāṁ gīrbhir vipanyavaḥ prayasvanto havāmahe |
medhasātā saniṣyavaḥ || 6 ||
indrāgnī avasā gatam asmabhyaṁ carṣaṇīsahā |
mā no duḥśaṁsa īśata || 7 ||
mā kasya no araruṣo dhūrtiḥ praṇaṅ martyasya |
indrāgnī śarma yacchatam || 8 ||
gomad dhiraṇyavad vasu yad vām aśvāvad īmahe |
indrāgnī tad vanemahi || 9 ||
yat soma ā sute nara indrāgnī ajohavuḥ |
saptīvantā saparyavaḥ || 10 ||
ukthebhir vṛtrahantamā yā mandānā cid ā girā |
āṅgūṣair āvivāsataḥ || 11 ||
tāv id duḥśaṁsam martyaṁ durvidvāṁsaṁ rakṣasvinam |
ābhogaṁ hanmanā hatam udadhiṁ hanmanā hatam || 12 ||
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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