Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IX.73 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.
In the jaw of the stones, as the droplet blew its breath, they rang as one. The bonds of kin have knit within the womb of truth.
The lord hath given up his threefold crown to be seized; the boats of the faithful one have borne the right-doer unto the further shore.
Together driven, the wild bulls have borne him forth. The seekers have made him—or speech itself—tremble in the river’s swell.
They brought forth the chant from streams of honey, and made the fair form of Indra wax in strength.
Set round the voice with the strainer in place, they take their seat. Their elder father keepeth his word.
Like mighty Varuṇa, Soma hath veiled himself in the sea; only the wise have grasped his hidden props.
In that strainer of a thousand flows they rang as one, as did the honeyed, endless streams in heaven’s own hall.
His keen-eyed watchers do not blink; at every pace lie snares well-laid.
They who rang as one from sire and dam—Heaven and Earth—flaming with verse and burning the lawless, by spellcraft they blow away the dark-hued wretch whom Indra hateth, from earth and sky alike.
They who rang as one from their ancient hold, whose reins bear signs, wise men of the wild one— the blind and the dull have fled before them; the wicked pass not the road of truth.
Here in the wide-stretched sieve of countless streams, the seers of vision cleanse their speech.
The bright Rudras, fair and true, watch well, their gaze alight, their aim unerring, ever set on man.
The warden of truth may not be beguiled; his will is firm. He hath laid three filters deep within his breast.
He seeth all the breathing world with knowing eye, and thrusteth the foul rejecters of law into the pit.
The thread of truth is widely drawn, here in the sieve and upon the tongue’s tip, by Varuṇa’s spell.
Only the far-sighted, reaching as one, have held it fast. But he that goeth not forward shall surely be cast down into the pit.
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.73
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.
srakve drapsasya dhamataḥ sam asvarann ṛtasya yonā sam aranta nābhayaḥ |
trīn sa mūrdhno asuraś cakra ārabhe satyasya nāvaḥ sukṛtam apīparan || 1 ||
samyak samyañco mahiṣā aheṣata sindhor ūrmāv adhi venā avīvipan |
madhor dhārābhir janayanto arkam it priyām indrasya tanvam avīvṛdhan || 2 ||
pavitravantaḥ pari vācam āsate pitaiṣām pratno abhi rakṣati vratam |
mahaḥ samudraṁ varuṇas tiro dadhe dhīrā ic chekur dharuṇeṣv ārabham || 3 ||
sahasradhāre 'va te sam asvaran divo nāke madhujihvā asaścataḥ |
asya spaśo na ni miṣanti bhūrṇayaḥ pade-pade pāśinaḥ santi setavaḥ || 4 ||
pitur mātur adhy ā ye samasvarann ṛcā śocantaḥ saṁdahanto avratān |
indradviṣṭām apa dhamanti māyayā tvacam asiknīm bhūmano divas pari || 5 ||
pratnān mānād adhy ā ye samasvarañ chlokayantrāso rabhasasya mantavaḥ |
apānakṣāso badhirā ahāsata ṛtasya panthāṁ na taranti duṣkṛtaḥ || 6 ||
sahasradhāre vitate pavitra ā vācam punanti kavayo manīṣiṇaḥ |
rudrāsa eṣām iṣirāso adruhaḥ spaśaḥ svañcaḥ sudṛśo nṛcakṣasaḥ || 7 ||
ṛtasya gopā na dabhāya sukratus trī ṣa pavitrā hṛdy a1ntar ā dadhe |
vidvān sa viśvā bhuvanābhi paśyaty avājuṣṭān vidhyati karte avratān || 8 ||
ṛtasya tantur vitataḥ pavitra ā jihvāyā agre varuṇasya māyayā |
dhīrāś cit tat saminakṣanta āśatātrā kartam ava padāty aprabhuḥ || 9 ||
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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