Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.103 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. Forth to Soma, the purifying ordainer, speech is raised. Bring it, like a tribute, with your thoughts, for he takes delight.
2. He streams around the woolen filter, anointed with milk; purifying himself, the tawny one makes for himself three dwelling-places.
3. He flows around the honey-dripping vat, in the woolen filter; the seven voices of the seers have cried out to him.
4. Soma, guide of our thoughts, belonging to all the gods, unassailable — purifying himself, the tawny one enters the two bowls.
5. Go, following the divine powers, in one chariot together with Indra; purifying yourself, immortal singer among singers.
6. Like a racehorse eager for the prize, the god, pressed out for the gods, purifying and reaching everywhere, runs onward.
Translator's note: "trī ṣadhasthā" (verse 2, "three dwelling-places") likely refers to the three ritual pressings or the three receptacles of Soma in the rite; the phrase is kept literal rather than expanded. "camvor" (verse 4) names the two camū bowls used in the Soma ritual.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.103 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.103
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 punānāya vedhase somāya vaca udyatam |
bhṛtiṁ na bharā matibhir jujoṣate || 1 ||
pari vārāṇy avyayā gobhir añjāno arṣati |
trī ṣadhasthā punānaḥ kṛṇute hariḥ || 2 ||
pari kośam madhuścutam avyaye vāre arṣati |
abhi vāṇīr ṛṣīṇāṁ sapta nūṣata || 3 ||
pari ṇetā matīnāṁ viśvadevo adābhyaḥ |
somaḥ punānaś camvor viśad dhariḥ || 4 ||
pari daivīr anu svadhā indreṇa yāhi saratham |
punāno vāghad vāghadbhir amartyaḥ || 5 ||
pari saptir na vājayur devo devebhyaḥ sutaḥ |
vyānaśiḥ pavamāno vi dhāvati || 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).