Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.101 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. Like the other hymns of Maṇḍala 9, it is addressed to Soma Pavamana — the sacred juice in the act of being pressed and filtered, streaming toward Indra.
1. By the prior triumph of your pressed, exhilarating juice — drive off, comrades, the long-tongued dog.
2. He who streams forth, pressed, in a purifying current — the drop, like a skilled horse.
3. Toward him, the fierce Soma, men with far-ranging thought impel the sacrifice with the pressing stones.
4. The pressed, sweetest Soma juices, exhilarating for Indra, have flowed through the filter — go, O intoxicating draughts, straight to the gods.
5. "The drop purifies itself for Indra" — so the gods have said. The Lord of Speech strives forth, ruling over all by his might.
6. With a thousand streams he purifies himself, an ocean setting speech in motion — Soma, lord of riches, friend of Indra, day after day.
7. This is Pūṣan, this is wealth and fortune: Soma flows as he purifies himself, lord of all that exists, who has looked out over both world-halves.
8. The dear, eager cows have bellowed together for him, for the exhilarating draught; the Soma drops, purifying themselves, cut out their paths.
9. O Purifying One, bring hither him who is mightiest, worthy of fame, who rules over the five peoples — the wealth by which we shall win.
10. The Soma drops purify themselves, best at finding a path for us — friends, pressed out, spotless, well-minded, finders of the sun.
11. Pressed out by the stones, made bright upon the cowhide, they have roared together on every side, bringing us nourishment, finders of wealth.
12. These purified, inspired Soma drops, mixed with curds, fair to see like suns, moving yet steadfast in the ghee.
13. Like a mortal, he has turned toward that word of the pressed juice — drive off the niggardly dog, as the Bhṛgus struck down Makha.
14. The kinsman has wrapped himself in a robe for delight, like a child in two arms; he has rushed like a lover to a woman, like a suitor, to sit in his resting place.
15. He is the hero, accomplisher of skill, who has propped the two world-halves apart; the tawny one has wrapped himself in the filter, like a sage, to sit in his resting place.
16. Soma purifies himself through the sheep's-wool strands, upon the cowhide; roaring, the tawny bull goes forth to the tryst of Indra.
Translator's note: verse 5's "Lord of Speech" (vācas patiḥ) and verse 9's "five peoples" (pañca carṣaṇīḥ, the five tribes of Vedic tradition) are conventional epithets rendered conservatively rather than expanded. Verse 13's "Makha" and the Bhṛgus' striking him down refers to an old myth alluded to elsewhere in the Rigveda; the hymn itself gives no further detail, so none is added here.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.101 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.101
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.
purojitī vo andhasaḥ sutāya mādayitnave |
apa śvānaṁ śnathiṣṭana sakhāyo dīrghajihvyam || 1 ||
yo dhārayā pāvakayā pariprasyandate sutaḥ |
indur aśvo na kṛtvyaḥ || 2 ||
taṁ duroṣam abhī naraḥ somaṁ viśvācyā dhiyā |
yajñaṁ hinvanty adribhiḥ || 3 ||
sutāso madhumattamāḥ somā indrāya mandinaḥ |
pavitravanto akṣaran devān gacchantu vo madāḥ || 4 ||
indur indrāya pavata iti devāso abruvan |
vācas patir makhasyate viśvasyeśāna ojasā || 5 ||
sahasradhāraḥ pavate samudro vācamīṅkhayaḥ |
somaḥ patī rayīṇāṁ sakhendrasya dive-dive || 6 ||
ayam pūṣā rayir bhagaḥ somaḥ punāno arṣati |
patir viśvasya bhūmano vy akhyad rodasī ubhe || 7 ||
sam u priyā anūṣata gāvo madāya ghṛṣvayaḥ |
somāsaḥ kṛṇvate pathaḥ pavamānāsa indavaḥ || 8 ||
ya ojiṣṭhas tam ā bhara pavamāna śravāyyam |
yaḥ pañca carṣaṇīr abhi rayiṁ yena vanāmahai || 9 ||
somāḥ pavanta indavo 'smabhyaṁ gātuvittamāḥ |
mitrāḥ suvānā arepasaḥ svādhyaḥ svarvidaḥ || 10 ||
suṣvāṇāso vy adribhiś citānā gor adhi tvaci |
iṣam asmabhyam abhitaḥ sam asvaran vasuvidaḥ || 11 ||
ete pūtā vipaścitaḥ somāso dadhyāśiraḥ |
sūryāso na darśatāso jigatnavo dhruvā ghṛte || 12 ||
pra sunvānasyāndhaso marto na vṛta tad vacaḥ |
apa śvānam arādhasaṁ hatā makhaṁ na bhṛgavaḥ || 13 ||
ā jāmir atke avyata bhuje na putra oṇyoḥ |
saraj jāro na yoṣaṇāṁ varo na yonim āsadam || 14 ||
sa vīro dakṣasādhano vi yas tastambha rodasī |
hariḥ pavitre avyata vedhā na yonim āsadam || 15 ||
avyo vārebhiḥ pavate somo gavye adhi tvaci |
kanikradad vṛṣā harir indrasyābhy eti niṣkṛtam || 16 ||
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).