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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 911 of 1027

Mandala 10: HYMN LXXIV. Indra.

1.I AM prepared to laud with song or worship the Noble Ones who are in earth and heaven, Or Coursers who have triumphed in, the contest, or those who famed, have won the prize with glory.

2.Their call, the call of Gods, went up to heaven: they kissed the ground with glory-seeking spirit, There where the Gods look on for happy fortune, and like the kindly heavens bestow their bounties.

3.This is the song of those Immortal Beings who long for treasures in their full perfection. May these, completing prayers and sacrifices, bestow upon us wealth where naught is wanting.

4.Those living men extolled thy deed, O Indra, those who would fain burst through the stall of cattle, Fain to milk her who bare but once, great, lofty, whose Sons are many and her streams past number.

5.Sacivan, win to your assistance Indra who never bends, who overcomes his foemen. Ṛbhukṣan, Maghavan, the hymn’s upholder, who, rich in food, bears man’s kind friend, the thunder.

6.Since he who won of old anew hath triumphed, Indra hath earned his name of Vṛtra-slaycr. He hath appeared, the mighty Lord of Conquest. What we would have him do let him accomplish.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn call Indra 'Vṛtra-slayer' and invoke him for cattle and wealth?

The hymn names Indra “Vṛtra-slayer” to recall his prime mythic act of breaking obstruction and releasing abundance; verses celebrate that triumph as the source of his power and title. It then asks that same victorious force to act now—“bestow upon us wealth where naught is wanting”—linking cosmic victory to concrete grants of cattle, food, and prosperity.

Calling Indra summons a guarantor of social and ritual success: the thunderous, food-giving Maghavan and friend of man in verse 5, asked to “accomplish” what the worshippers desire. This ties to the wider Vedic pattern found elsewhere in the Rigveda and in later hymns where divine combat secures cosmic order and material plenty.

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