Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.105 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. Friends, sing out to him as he purifies himself for the exhilaration he gives — like an infant, they sweeten him with sacrifices and songs of praise.
2. Like a calf pressing in among its mothers, the drop, driven forward, is anointed — the god-seeking intoxicant is adorned all around with our hymns.
3. This one works for our strength and skill, this one for the host, for their delight — this, once pressed, is the sweetest of all for the gods.
4. O drop, rich in cattle, rich in horses when pressed, skillful one — flow on; I have set your bright color upon the milk of the cows.
5. Be that for us, O drop, lord of the tawny horses, most delightful to the gods — like a friend to a friend, be present, manly one, for our brightness.
6. Drive away from us, entirely, any godless devourer; overpowering him, O drop, thrust off the double-dealing deceiver.
Translator's note: verse 4's "śuciṁ te varṇam adhi goṣu dīdharam" (literally "I have set your bright color upon/among the cows") is rendered as the soma-drop's color set upon the milk, following the standard understanding that pressed soma is mixed with cow's milk before offering. Verse 6's "atriṇam" (devourer) and "dvayum" (double-dealer/deceiver) are kept as generic hostile figures rather than named demons, since the Sanskrit does not specify one.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.105 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.105
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.
taṁ vaḥ sakhāyo madāya punānam abhi gāyata |
śiśuṁ na yajñaiḥ svadayanta gūrtibhiḥ || 1 ||
saṁ vatsa iva mātṛbhir indur hinvāno ajyate |
devāvīr mado matibhiḥ pariṣkṛtaḥ || 2 ||
ayaṁ dakṣāya sādhano 'yaṁ śardhāya vītaye |
ayaṁ devebhyo madhumattamaḥ sutaḥ || 3 ||
goman na indo aśvavat sutaḥ sudakṣa dhanva |
śuciṁ te varṇam adhi goṣu dīdharam || 4 ||
sa no harīṇām pata indo devapsarastamaḥ |
sakheva sakhye naryo ruce bhava || 5 ||
sanemi tvam asmad ām̐ adevaṁ kaṁ cid atriṇam |
sāhvām̐ indo pari bādho apa dvayum || 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).