Rig-Veda, Book 6: HYMN XXXIII. Indra.

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.