Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.10 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 9 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. Resounding forth, like chariots, like racehorses eager for glory, the soma-drops have advanced for wealth.
2. Driven on like chariots, they have rushed between the two hands of the presser, like the winnings of those who act.
3. Like kings by their proclamations, the somas are anointed with milk, like the sacrifice ordained by the seven establishers.
4. The drops, pressed out on every side for exhilaration, with mighty song — once pressed, they flow in a stream.
5. Having drunk of Vivasvant's share, they bring forth the bounty of Dawn; like suns they stretch out the filter-thread.
6. The ancient poets throw open the doors of devotion, the Āyus of the bull's fierce power.
7. United, the Hotars sit together, the seven kindred, tending the place of the One.
8. Navel to navel he has fastened himself, his eye joined with the sun; he milks forth the offspring of the seer.
9. Toward the dear place of heaven, hidden by the Adhvaryus, the sun looks on with his eye.
Translator's note: verse 5's "āpānāsaḥ" (from "to drink") and verse 6's "vṛṣṇo harasa āyavaḥ" are compressed, elliptical phrases typical of this hymn's terse pressing-imagery; they are rendered conservatively rather than expanded. "Āyus" (v.6) and "Adhvaryus" (v.9) are left untranslated as the names of the ritual officiants/mythic men they denote.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.10 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 IX.10
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.
pra svānāso rathā ivārvanto na śravasyavaḥ |
somāso rāye akramuḥ || 1 ||
hinvānāso rathā iva dadhanvire gabhastyoḥ |
bharāsaḥ kāriṇām iva || 2 ||
rājāno na praśastibhiḥ somāso gobhir añjate |
yajño na sapta dhātṛbhiḥ || 3 ||
pari suvānāsa indavo madāya barhaṇā girā |
sutā arṣanti dhārayā || 4 ||
āpānāso vivasvato jananta uṣaso bhagam |
sūrā aṇvaṁ vi tanvate || 5 ||
apa dvārā matīnām pratnā ṛṇvanti kāravaḥ |
vṛṣṇo harasa āyavaḥ || 6 ||
samīcīnāsa āsate hotāraḥ saptajāmayaḥ |
padam ekasya piprataḥ || 7 ||
nābhā nābhiṁ na ā dade cakṣuś cit sūrye sacā |
kaver apatyam ā duhe || 8 ||
abhi priyā divas padam adhvaryubhir guhā hitam |
sūraḥ paśyati cakṣasā || 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).