Hymn to Soma-Rudra
Rigveda VI.74 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 6 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-Rudra, you two uphold your lordly power. May our offerings reach you and find you ready. Holding seven treasures in house after house, be well-being for our two-footed and our four-footed.
2. O Soma-Rudra, tear apart and cast out on every side the affliction that has entered our home. Drive misfortune far away from us. May fair fame and blessing be ours.
3. O Soma-Rudra, place in us, in our bodies, all these remedies. Loosen, release whatever bond is tied in our bodies, whatever wrong has been done and fastened upon us.
4. Sharp-weaponed, sharp-missiled, kindly ones — Soma-Rudra, here show us your mercy. Release us from Varuna's noose. Watch over us, being well-disposed toward us.
Translator's note: "asuryam" (v.1) denotes the older sense of lordly/divine sovereign power, not the later demonic sense of "asura." "Varuna's noose" (pāśa, v.4) is the standard Vedic figure for the bonds of guilt, sin, or disease that Varuna is understood to fasten upon wrongdoers.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.74 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 VI.74
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.
somārudrā dhārayethām asurya1m pra vām iṣṭayo 'ram aśnuvantu |
dame-dame sapta ratnā dadhānā śaṁ no bhūtaṁ dvipade śaṁ catuṣpade || 1 ||
somārudrā vi vṛhataṁ viṣūcīm amīvā yā no gayam āviveśa |
āre bādhethāṁ nirṛtim parācair asme bhadrā sauśravasāni santu || 2 ||
somārudrā yuvam etāny asme viśvā tanūṣu bheṣajāni dhattam |
ava syatam muñcataṁ yan no asti tanūṣu baddhaṁ kṛtam eno asmat || 3 ||
tigmāyudhau tigmahetī suśevau somārudrāv iha su mṛḻataṁ naḥ |
pra no muñcataṁ varuṇasya pāśād gopāyataṁ naḥ sumanasyamānā || 4 ||
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).