Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VIII.103 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 8 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 Agni, thou bearer of offerings, thou sacred flame that drinkest the oblation!
Carry upward—carry swiftly to the gods—all the prayers we have kindled in this Mandala.
For eight times have the singers made their offerings unto thee; eight times have the devout lifted their voices in praise.
Now take all their labours, all their dreams, all their hopes, and bear them on thy wings of fire to the high throne of Indra.
Let the smoke of these verses curl upward through the vault of heaven.
Let our sacred words, carried upon thy breath, find their way to the councils of the gods.
Varuṇa, who sitteth in his vast expanse, let him hear us.
Mitra, who bindeth the nations in his justice, let him receive our devotion.
The Ādityas, who hold aloft the sky, let them know our steadfastness.
Indra, mightiest of all, let him rejoice in the offering, and grant us victory in all our contests.
Thou, O Agni, art the seal of this Mandala—the fire that drinketh the last oblation and closeth the door upon our labour.
What hath been begun by the first song, thou shalt bring to its end.
What hath been scattered through these eight books of hymns, thou shalt gather and present before the throne of heaven.
The singers have poured out their hearts; the priests have performed their rites with precision and purity.
Now let the fruit of all this work ascend to the high gods, that they may grant us peace, abundance, and long life.
O Agni, accept this final prayer.
Thou art the last flame and the first; thou art the messenger and the seal; thou art the beginning and the ending.
As a father taketh his son's gift into his hand with joy, so do thou receive the offering of the Mandala.
And when thou hast carried all unto the gods, descend again to our hearths, to our altars, to our hearts.
Let thy light never fail us.
Let thy warmth sustain us.
Let thy strength uphold us in all our days.
Hail to thee, O Agni, the eternal flame, the seal of the Eight.
Hail and farewell.
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 VIII.103
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.
adarśi gātuvittamo yasmin vratāny ādadhuḥ |
upo ṣu jātam āryasya vardhanam agniṁ nakṣanta no giraḥ || 1 ||
pra daivodāso agnir devām̐ acchā na majmanā |
anu mātaram pṛthivīṁ vi vāvṛte tasthau nākasya sānavi || 2 ||
yasmād rejanta kṛṣṭayaś carkṛtyāni kṛṇvataḥ |
sahasrasām medhasātāv iva tmanāgniṁ dhībhiḥ saparyata || 3 ||
pra yaṁ rāye ninīṣasi marto yas te vaso dāśat |
sa vīraṁ dhatte agna ukthaśaṁsinaṁ tmanā sahasrapoṣiṇam || 4 ||
sa dṛḻhe cid abhi tṛṇatti vājam arvatā sa dhatte akṣiti śravaḥ |
tve devatrā sadā purūvaso viśvā vāmāni dhīmahi || 5 ||
yo viśvā dayate vasu hotā mandro janānām |
madhor na pātrā prathamāny asmai pra stomā yanty agnaye || 6 ||
aśvaṁ na gīrbhī rathyaṁ sudānavo marmṛjyante devayavaḥ |
ubhe toke tanaye dasma viśpate parṣi rādho maghonām || 7 ||
pra maṁhiṣṭhāya gāyata ṛtāvne bṛhate śukraśociṣe |
upastutāso agnaye || 8 ||
ā vaṁsate maghavā vīravad yaśaḥ samiddho dyumny āhutaḥ |
kuvin no asya sumatir navīyasy acchā vājebhir āgamat || 9 ||
preṣṭham u priyāṇāṁ stuhy āsāvātithim |
agniṁ rathānāṁ yamam || 10 ||
uditā yo niditā veditā vasv ā yajñiyo vavartati |
duṣṭarā yasya pravaṇe normayo dhiyā vājaṁ siṣāsataḥ || 11 ||
mā no hṛṇītām atithir vasur agniḥ purupraśasta eṣaḥ |
yaḥ suhotā svadhvaraḥ || 12 ||
mo te riṣan ye acchoktibhir vaso 'gne kebhiś cid evaiḥ |
kīriś cid dhi tvām īṭṭe dūtyāya rātahavyaḥ svadhvaraḥ || 13 ||
āgne yāhi marutsakhā rudrebhiḥ somapītaye |
sobharyā upa suṣṭutim mādayasva svarṇare || 14 ||
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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