Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.55 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 Indra, god of gods supreme, we sing thy praise with voices raised.
Thy might is manifest in all the deeds of power that thou dost do.
Accept the soma that we pour and bless us with thy favour bright.
Thou art the slayer of the foes, the keeper of the sacred law.
The thunderer whose voice doth shake the very pillars of the earth.
O great and generous one, grant unto us thy abundance overflowing.
We ask not for the gifts of lesser gods, but only ask for thine.
Thy generosity doth know no bounds, thy giving hand doth never fail.
O Indra, thou art faithful to thy servants who do sing thy praise.
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.55
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.
bhūrīd indrasya vīrya1ṁ vy akhyam abhy āyati |
rādhas te dasyave vṛka || 1 ||
śataṁ śvetāsa ukṣaṇo divi tāro na rocante |
mahnā divaṁ na tastabhuḥ || 2 ||
śataṁ veṇūñ chataṁ śunaḥ śataṁ carmāṇi mlātāni |
śatam me balbajastukā aruṣīṇāṁ catuḥśatam || 3 ||
sudevāḥ stha kāṇvāyanā vayo-vayo vicarantaḥ |
aśvāso na caṅkramata || 4 ||
ād it sāptasya carkirann ānūnasya mahi śravaḥ |
śyāvīr atidhvasan pathaś cakṣuṣā cana saṁnaśe || 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).
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