Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.100 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. The guileless ones cry out toward Indra's dear, desired one; as if to a newborn calf at its first hour, the mothers lick him.
2. Purifying drop, bring us doubled wealth, O Soma; you make all goods flourish in the house of the pious giver.
3. Release the insight yoked to mind, as thunder releases the rain; you nourish earthly and heavenly treasures, O Soma.
4. Your stream of pressed juice runs around like that of a victor, speeding through the woolen filter like a prize-winning racehorse.
5. For our insight and skill, O sage, purify yourself in a stream, Soma — pressed for Indra to drink, and for Mitra and Varuṇa.
6. Purify yourself, most prize-winning one, pressed and streaming through the filter — sweetest of all, O Soma, for Indra, for Viṣṇu, for the gods.
7. The guileless mothers lick you, tawny one, at the filter, as milk-cows lick a newborn calf, O purifying one, in your ordaining.
8. O purifying one, you move toward great fame with your brilliant rays; boldly you strike down every darkness in the house of the pious giver.
9. You, whose ordinance is mighty, have risen above both heaven and earth; you have wrapped on your mantle, O purifying one, by your own greatness.
Translator's note: "vidharmaṇi" (verse 7) is a rare locative meaning roughly "in the establishing/ordaining," rendered conservatively as "in your ordaining." "Mahivrata" (verse 9) — "of mighty ordinance/law" — is kept close to its literal sense rather than smoothed into an epithet.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.100 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.100
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.
abhī navante adruhaḥ priyam indrasya kāmyam |
vatsaṁ na pūrva āyuni jātaṁ rihanti mātaraḥ || 1 ||
punāna indav ā bhara soma dvibarhasaṁ rayim |
tvaṁ vasūni puṣyasi viśvāni dāśuṣo gṛhe || 2 ||
tvaṁ dhiyam manoyujaṁ sṛjā vṛṣṭiṁ na tanyatuḥ |
tvaṁ vasūni pārthivā divyā ca soma puṣyasi || 3 ||
pari te jigyuṣo yathā dhārā sutasya dhāvati |
raṁhamāṇā vy a1vyayaṁ vāraṁ vājīva sānasiḥ || 4 ||
kratve dakṣāya naḥ kave pavasva soma dhārayā |
indrāya pātave suto mitrāya varuṇāya ca || 5 ||
pavasva vājasātamaḥ pavitre dhārayā sutaḥ |
indrāya soma viṣṇave devebhyo madhumattamaḥ || 6 ||
tvāṁ rihanti mātaro harim pavitre adruhaḥ |
vatsaṁ jātaṁ na dhenavaḥ pavamāna vidharmaṇi || 7 ||
pavamāna mahi śravaś citrebhir yāsi raśmibhiḥ |
śardhan tamāṁsi jighnase viśvāni dāśuṣo gṛhe || 8 ||
tvaṁ dyāṁ ca mahivrata pṛthivīṁ cāti jabhriṣe |
prati drāpim amuñcathāḥ pavamāna mahitvanā || 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).