Rig Veda · 474 of 1027

Mandala 6: HYMN XXXIII. Indra.

1. GIVE us the rapture that is mightiest, Indra, prompt to bestow and swift to aid, O Hero, That wins with brave steeds where brave steeds encounter, and quells the Vṛtras and the foes in battle.

2. For with loud voice the tribes invoke thee, Indra, to aid them in the battlefield of heroes. Thou, with the singers, hast pierced through the Paṇis: the charger whom thou aidest wins the booty.

3. Both races, Indra, of opposing foemen, O Hero, both the Ārya and the Dāsa, Hast thou struck down like woods with well-shot lightnings: thou rentest them in fight, most manly Chieftain!

4. Indra, befriend us with no scanty succour, prosper and aid us, Loved of all that liveth, When, fighting for the sunlight, we invoke thee, O Hero, in the fray, in war's division.

5. Be ours, O Indra, now and for the future, be graciously inclined and near to help us. Thus may we, singing, sheltered by the Mighty, win many cattle on the day of trial.