Hymn to the Mortar and Pestle
Rigveda I.28 is unusual among the sūktas (hymns of praise) of the Rigveda: rather than addressing a god directly throughout, it speaks to the ulūkhala — the wooden mortar and pestle used to pound the soma stalks in preparation for pressing — while its refrain calls on Indra as the eager drinker of the juice they yield. It belongs to the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. Where the broad-bottomed pressing-stone stands upright, ready for pressing — there, Indra, you are the greedy drinker of what the mortar has pressed out.
2. Where two stones, like a pair of hips, are set up for pressing — there, Indra, you are the greedy drinker of what the mortar has pressed out.
3. Where the woman works the downward stroke and the upward stroke — there, Indra, you are the greedy drinker of what the mortar has pressed out.
4. Where they bind fast the stirring-stick, as one binds reins to hold something in check — there, Indra, you are the greedy drinker of what the mortar has pressed out.
5. Even though you, little mortar, are put to work house after house, sound out here your loudest note, like the drum of those who win the battle.
6. And you too, lord of the forest — the wind blows straight across your rim. So, mortar, press out the soma for Indra to drink.
7. The two that sacrifice well, most winning of strength — how loudly they gape and roar, like two tawny steeds devouring the soma-stalks.
8. May those two lords of the forest, lofty ones, together with the lofty pressers, press out for us today the honey-sweet soma for Indra.
9. Bring what remains in the two bowls; pour it into the filter; set it down upon the cowhide.
Translator's note: verses 7–9 shift from the mortar-and-pestle refrain to the pestle and mortar addressed as a dual pair ("the two"), then to the pressing vessels and filter cloth themselves — the imagery moves from pounding to straining the pressed juice. "Lord of the forest" (vanaspati) names the wooden mortar/pestle by the tree it was cut from, a standard Rigvedic way of addressing a wooden implement.
Colophon
Rigveda I.28 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation rendered verse by verse from the Sanskrit text printed below. Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.28
yatra grāvā pṛthubudhna ūrdhvo bhavati sotave |
ulūkhalasutānām aved v indra jalgulaḥ || 1 ||
yatra dvāv iva jaghanādhiṣavaṇyā kṛtā |
ulūkhalasutānām aved v indra jalgulaḥ || 2 ||
yatra nāry apacyavam upacyavaṁ ca śikṣate |
ulūkhalasutānām aved v indra jalgulaḥ || 3 ||
yatra manthāṁ vibadhnate raśmīn yamitavā iva |
ulūkhalasutānām aved v indra jalgulaḥ || 4 ||
yac cid dhi tvaṁ gṛhe-gṛha ulūkhalaka yujyase |
iha dyumattamaṁ vada jayatām iva dundubhiḥ || 5 ||
uta sma te vanaspate vāto vi vāty agram it |
atho indrāya pātave sunu somam ulūkhala || 6 ||
āyajī vājasātamā tā hy u1ccā vijarbhṛtaḥ |
harī ivāndhāṁsi bapsatā || 7 ||
tā no adya vanaspatī ṛṣvāv ṛṣvebhiḥ sotṛbhiḥ |
indrāya madhumat sutam || 8 ||
uc chiṣṭaṁ camvor bhara somam pavitra ā sṛja |
ni dhehi gor adhi tvaci || 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).