I will declare the manly deeds of Indra, the first to achieve them, the Thunder-wielder.
He slew the Dragon, then revealed the waters, and split the mountain torrents' channels.
He slew the Dragon lying on the mountain: Tvaṣṭar fashioned his heavenly bolt of thunder.
Like swift-moving cows descending in a stream, the waters flowed down to the ocean.
Impetuous as a bull, he chose Soma and drank its juices in three sacred beakers.
Maghavan grasped the thunder as his weapon and struck down this firstborn of the Dragons.
When you, Indra, slew the Dragon's firstborn and overcame the enchanters' spells,
Then you gave life to Sun and Dawn and Heaven, and no foe stood against you.
With your great and deadly thunder, Indra smote Vṛtra, the worst of Vṛtras.
As trunks of trees fall when the axe strikes them, so lies the prostrate Dragon on the ground.
Like a mad, weak warrior, Vṛtra challenged Indra, the mighty, many-slaying Hero.
Brooking not the clash of weapons, he crushed Indra's foes, the shattered forts falling.
Still unfooted and handless, Vṛtra challenged Indra, who struck him between the shoulders.
Emasculated yet claiming manly vigor, Vṛtra lay with his limbs scattered.
There, like a bursting river, he lies, the waters taking courage to flow above him.
The Dragon lies beneath the feet of torrents that Vṛtra had encompassed.
Then Vṛtra's mother was humbled; Indra cast his deadly bolt against her.
Above her was the mother, below was the son, and like a cow beside her calf lay Danu.
Rolled in ceaseless currents, the waters bear off Vṛtra's nameless body.
The foe of Indra sank into darkness, and Vṛtra's nameless body is borne away.
Guarded by Ahi stood the thralls of Dāsas, the waters stayed like kine held by the robber.
But when he smote Vṛtra, he opened the cave where the floods had been imprisoned.
Thy tail was like a horse's when thou, O Indra, struck on thy bolt; thou, God without a second,
Thou hast won back the kine, hast won the Soma; thou hast let loose to flow the Seven Rivers.
Nothing availed him lightning, nothing thunder, hailstorm or