Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VIII.74 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.
Most pure, most bright, O Agni! Thou art the best of all the priests,
Thy hands are ever clean; thy words are ever true and right.
The sacrifice floweth smooth through thee; the gods do feast upon the gifts
That thou dost bear unto their thrones with faithful heart and steady hand.
More generous art thou than any god, more noble in thy giving still,
Thou givest all that men do ask, and findest joy in every gift.
The righteous priest, the holy one, doth please thee with his careful work,
And thou dost bless him with thy power, with strength that shall not fail.
Hear thou our prayer; accept our praise; burn bright and clear this sacred day,
That we may live and prosper well beneath thy watchful, flaming eye.
O Agni! Grant us what we seek; protect us from the powers of ill,
And let thy glory shine on us forevermore.
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.74
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.
viśo-viśo vo atithiṁ vājayantaḥ purupriyam |
agniṁ vo duryaṁ vacaḥ stuṣe śūṣasya manmabhiḥ || 1 ||
yaṁ janāso haviṣmanto mitraṁ na sarpirāsutim |
praśaṁsanti praśastibhiḥ || 2 ||
panyāṁsaṁ jātavedasaṁ yo devatāty udyatā |
havyāny airayad divi || 3 ||
āganma vṛtrahantamaṁ jyeṣṭham agnim ānavam |
yasya śrutarvā bṛhann ārkṣo anīka edhate || 4 ||
amṛtaṁ jātavedasaṁ tiras tamāṁsi darśatam |
ghṛtāhavanam īḍyam || 5 ||
sabādho yaṁ janā ime3 'gniṁ havyebhir īḻate |
juhvānāso yatasrucaḥ || 6 ||
iyaṁ te navyasī matir agne adhāyy asmad ā |
mandra sujāta sukrato 'mūra dasmātithe || 7 ||
sā te agne śaṁtamā caniṣṭhā bhavatu priyā |
tayā vardhasva suṣṭutaḥ || 8 ||
sā dyumnair dyumninī bṛhad upopa śravasi śravaḥ |
dadhīta vṛtratūrye || 9 ||
aśvam id gāṁ rathaprāṁ tveṣam indraṁ na satpatim |
yasya śravāṁsi tūrvatha panyam-panyaṁ ca kṛṣṭayaḥ || 10 ||
yaṁ tvā gopavano girā caniṣṭhad agne aṅgiraḥ |
sa pāvaka śrudhī havam || 11 ||
yaṁ tvā janāsa īḻate sabādho vājasātaye |
sa bodhi vṛtratūrye || 12 ||
ahaṁ huvāna ārkṣe śrutarvaṇi madacyuti |
śardhāṁsīva stukāvinām mṛkṣā śīrṣā caturṇām || 13 ||
māṁ catvāra āśavaḥ śaviṣṭhasya dravitnavaḥ |
surathāso abhi prayo vakṣan vayo na tugryam || 14 ||
satyam it tvā mahenadi paruṣṇy ava dediśam |
nem āpo aśvadātaraḥ śaviṣṭhād asti martyaḥ || 15 ||
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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