Hymn to Soma and Pūṣan
Rigveda II.40 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 2 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. O Soma and Pūṣan, begetters of riches, begetters of heaven, begetters of earth — once born, guardians of the whole world, the gods made you the navel of immortality.
2. May these two gods, at their birth, be welcomed; let them hide away the unwelcome darknesses. Through them, through Soma and Pūṣan, Indra produced the ripe milk within the raw cows.
3. O Soma and Pūṣan, you two mighty bulls urge onward the seven-wheeled chariot that measures out the region of space — the chariot not every one can drive, that turns on every side, yoked by thought, five-reined.
4. One of you made his seat on high, in heaven; the other, on earth, in the mid-space. May you two loosen for us the navel-source of wealth's increase, rich in boons, rich in cattle.
5. One of you begot all the worlds; the other goes about surveying all. O Soma and Pūṣan, favor my prayer — through you two may we win every battle.
6. May Pūṣan, the all-driving one, quicken our prayer; may Soma, lord of riches, bestow wealth on us. May the goddess Aditi, unopposed, protect us — may we, blessed with good sons, speak loftily in the assembly.
Translator's note: verse 3's "aviśvaminvam" (literally "not all-driving" or "not to be driven by all") is a difficult compound; rendered conservatively as "not every one can drive." Verse 2's "juṣantemau" (juṣanta + imau) is likewise compressed in the Sanskrit; rendered as "let [these two] be welcomed" to preserve the sense of the gods being favorably received at their birth.
Colophon
Rigveda II.40 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 II.40
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
somāpūṣaṇā jananā rayīṇāṁ jananā divo jananā pṛthivyāḥ |
jātau viśvasya bhuvanasya gopau devā akṛṇvann amṛtasya nābhim || 1 ||
imau devau jāyamānau juṣantemau tamāṁsi gūhatām ajuṣṭā |
ābhyām indraḥ pakvam āmāsv antaḥ somāpūṣabhyāṁ janad usriyāsu || 2 ||
somāpūṣaṇā rajaso vimānaṁ saptacakraṁ ratham aviśvaminvam |
viṣūvṛtam manasā yujyamānaṁ taṁ jinvatho vṛṣaṇā pañcaraśmim || 3 ||
divy a1nyaḥ sadanaṁ cakra uccā pṛthivyām anyo adhy antarikṣe |
tāv asmabhyam puruvāram purukṣuṁ rāyas poṣaṁ vi ṣyatāṁ nābhim asme || 4 ||
viśvāny anyo bhuvanā jajāna viśvam anyo abhicakṣāṇa eti |
somāpūṣaṇāv avataṁ dhiyam me yuvābhyāṁ viśvāḥ pṛtanā jayema || 5 ||
dhiyam pūṣā jinvatu viśvaminvo rayiṁ somo rayipatir dadhātu |
avatu devy aditir anarvā bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 6 ||
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).