Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IX.53 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 9 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.
Thy blasts are risen, O bearer of the stone, sundering the might of fiends.
Cast aside thine foes that compass thee round.
With this wise reckoning, striking bold when chariots meet and gain is sought, I shall lift my song with a heart unafraid.
The laws of this self-cleansing one may not be withstood by the witless.
Lay low him who lifteth his hand against thee.
Into the rivers they cast him who stirreth rapture— the tawny seeker of reward, the drop that bringeth joy to Indra.
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 IX.53
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.
ut te śuṣmāso asthū rakṣo bhindanto adrivaḥ |
nudasva yāḥ parispṛdhaḥ || 1 ||
ayā nijaghnir ojasā rathasaṁge dhane hite |
stavā abibhyuṣā hṛdā || 2 ||
asya vratāni nādhṛṣe pavamānasya dūḍhyā |
ruja yas tvā pṛtanyati || 3 ||
taṁ hinvanti madacyutaṁ hariṁ nadīṣu vājinam |
indum indrāya matsaram || 4 ||
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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