Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.107 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. Pour the pressed Soma all around — it is the highest offering. The manly one, having surged within the waters, has been pressed out with the stones.
2. Now, being purified by the fleeces, flow around, undeceived, more fragrant. Even as you are pressed, in the waters we exult with the draught, mixing you — the higher one — with milk.
3. Pressed out on every side, to be seen, gladdening the gods — he is will itself, the shining drop, the far-seeing one.
4. Purifying yourself, O Soma, robed in the stream of waters, you flow. Treasure-giver, you settle into the womb of truth, a golden spring, O god.
5. Milking the heavenly udder for its dear sweet honey, he has settled into the ancient gathering-place. The prize-winning one flows toward the sought foundation, driven on by men, far-seeing.
6. Purifying yourself, O Soma, wakeful, dear, around the sheep's fleece, you have become the inspired poet, foremost of the Aṅgirases — mix our sacrifice with sweetness.
7. Soma the bounteous purifies himself, best finder of the way, seer, inspired, far-seeing. You have become the poet most eager for the gods — you made the sun climb into heaven.
8. Soma, being pressed out by the pressers upon the backs of the fleeces, goes tawny like a racehorse with his stream, goes with his delightful stream.
9. In the watery meadow, rich with milk, he is anointed with milk — Soma is anointed with the milked streams. Like rivers to the sea, the vats have received him; the gladdening one pours himself out for our exhilaration.
10. Pressed out by the stones, O Soma, across the woolen filters, like a man entering a stronghold, the tawny one enters the two bowls; you have set your seat among the wooden vessels.
11. He has cleansed himself through the fine hairs of the ewe's fleece, like a swift racehorse eager for the prize in a contest. Soma, being purified, is to be cheered on by the thoughtful ones, by the inspired singers of hymns.
12. Forth, O Soma, for the gods' feast, you have swelled like a river with your flood; with the sap of the stalk, intoxicating, wakeful, you flow toward the honey-dripping vat.
13. The desirable one has wrapped himself in a bright garment, dear, to be groomed like a beloved son. Him the toilers urge on, as they urge a chariot, into the rivers, with their two hands.
14. The Soma-juices, quick as living men, purify themselves toward the intoxicating exhilaration; upon the surface of the sea, thoughtful, exhilarating, finding the sun.
15. Being purified, he crosses the sea with his wave, the king, the god, the great truth in motion; he flows forth, urged on by the ordinance of Mitra and Varuṇa, furthering the great truth.
16. Guided by men, desirable, far-seeing, the king, the god of the sea.
17. For Indra the exhilarating draught, Soma, pressed, purifies himself — Indra who is accompanied by the Maruts. With a thousand streams he flows past the fleece; the swift ones cleanse him.
18. Being purified in the two bowls, engendering thought, the poet Soma delights among the gods; robed in the waters, wrapped round with milk, the higher one, settling among the wooden vessels, has clothed himself.
19. In your friendship, O Soma, I rejoice, drop, day by day; many things, O tawny one, weigh me down — go beyond those obstacles, past them.
20. And I, by night and by day, O Soma, tawny one, cling to your udder for friendship; beyond the sun that burns with heat, we have flown far, like birds.
21. Being cleansed, O skillful-handed one, you send your voice into the sea; purifying yourself, you flow toward abundant, tawny, much-desired wealth.
22. Being cleansed in the woolen filter, purifying yourself, you have bellowed like a bull in the wooden vat. O Soma, purifying yourself, anointed with milk, you flow to the gods' trysting place.
23. Purify yourself for the winning of the prize, toward all works of poetic skill. You, O Soma, exhilarating, first spread out the sea for the gods.
24. So indeed purify yourself around the earthly realm and the heavenly, O Soma, by your own ordinances; you, the far-seeing, bright one, the inspired ones urge on with their thoughts, with their hymns.
25. Being purified, the streams have been let loose across the filter with their flood; accompanied by the Maruts, exhilarating, belonging to Indra, like steeds, toward wisdom and toward the offerings.
26. Robing himself in the waters, the drop flows around the vat, sent onward by the pressers; engendering light, gladdening, he has made the cows low, as one fashioning them into a bright garment.
Translator's note: verses 3 and 16 are single half-verses in the source rather than full couplets, and are translated as such. A few phrases — "womb of truth" (4), "trysting place of the gods" (22), and "fashioning them into a bright garment" (26) — render compact ritual idioms whose precise mythic reference (the altar, the place of libation, the milk-mixing rite) is debated among scholars; the literal sense of the Sanskrit is kept rather than resolved into any one interpretation.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.107 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.107
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.
parīto ṣiñcatā sutaṁ somo ya uttamaṁ haviḥ |
dadhanvām̐ yo naryo apsv a1ntar ā suṣāva somam adribhiḥ || 1 ||
nūnam punāno 'vibhiḥ pari sravādabdhaḥ surabhiṁtaraḥ |
sute cit tvāpsu madāmo andhasā śrīṇanto gobhir uttaram || 2 ||
pari suvānaś cakṣase devamādanaḥ kratur indur vicakṣaṇaḥ || 3 ||
punānaḥ soma dhārayāpo vasāno arṣasi |
ā ratnadhā yonim ṛtasya sīdasy utso deva hiraṇyayaḥ || 4 ||
duhāna ūdhar divyam madhu priyam pratnaṁ sadhastham āsadat |
āpṛcchyaṁ dharuṇaṁ vājy arṣati nṛbhir dhūto vicakṣaṇaḥ || 5 ||
punānaḥ soma jāgṛvir avyo vāre pari priyaḥ |
tvaṁ vipro abhavo 'ṅgirastamo madhvā yajñam mimikṣa naḥ || 6 ||
somo mīḍhvān pavate gātuvittama ṛṣir vipro vicakṣaṇaḥ |
tvaṁ kavir abhavo devavītama ā sūryaṁ rohayo divi || 7 ||
soma u ṣuvāṇaḥ sotṛbhir adhi ṣṇubhir avīnām |
aśvayeva haritā yāti dhārayā mandrayā yāti dhārayā || 8 ||
anūpe gomān gobhir akṣāḥ somo dugdhābhir akṣāḥ |
samudraṁ na saṁvaraṇāny agman mandī madāya tośate || 9 ||
ā soma suvāno adribhis tiro vārāṇy avyayā |
jano na puri camvor viśad dhariḥ sado vaneṣu dadhiṣe || 10 ||
sa māmṛje tiro aṇvāni meṣyo mīḻhe saptir na vājayuḥ |
anumādyaḥ pavamāno manīṣibhiḥ somo viprebhir ṛkvabhiḥ || 11 ||
pra soma devavītaye sindhur na pipye arṇasā |
aṁśoḥ payasā madiro na jāgṛvir acchā kośam madhuścutam || 12 ||
ā haryato arjune atke avyata priyaḥ sūnur na marjyaḥ |
tam īṁ hinvanty apaso yathā rathaṁ nadīṣv ā gabhastyoḥ || 13 ||
abhi somāsa āyavaḥ pavante madyam madam |
samudrasyādhi viṣṭapi manīṣiṇo matsarāsaḥ svarvidaḥ || 14 ||
tarat samudram pavamāna ūrmiṇā rājā deva ṛtam bṛhat |
arṣan mitrasya varuṇasya dharmaṇā pra hinvāna ṛtam bṛhat || 15 ||
nṛbhir yemāno haryato vicakṣaṇo rājā devaḥ samudriyaḥ || 16 ||
indrāya pavate madaḥ somo marutvate sutaḥ |
sahasradhāro aty avyam arṣati tam ī mṛjanty āyavaḥ || 17 ||
punānaś camū janayan matiṁ kaviḥ somo deveṣu raṇyati |
apo vasānaḥ pari gobhir uttaraḥ sīdan vaneṣv avyata || 18 ||
tavāhaṁ soma rāraṇa sakhya indo dive-dive |
purūṇi babhro ni caranti mām ava paridhīm̐r ati tām̐ ihi || 19 ||
utāhaṁ naktam uta soma te divā sakhyāya babhra ūdhani |
ghṛṇā tapantam ati sūryam paraḥ śakunā iva paptima || 20 ||
mṛjyamānaḥ suhastya samudre vācam invasi |
rayim piśaṅgam bahulam puruspṛham pavamānābhy arṣasi || 21 ||
mṛjāno vāre pavamāno avyaye vṛṣāva cakrado vane |
devānāṁ soma pavamāna niṣkṛtaṁ gobhir añjāno arṣasi || 22 ||
pavasva vājasātaye 'bhi viśvāni kāvyā |
tvaṁ samudram prathamo vi dhārayo devebhyaḥ soma matsaraḥ || 23 ||
sa tū pavasva pari pārthivaṁ rajo divyā ca soma dharmabhiḥ |
tvāṁ viprāso matibhir vicakṣaṇa śubhraṁ hinvanti dhītibhiḥ || 24 ||
pavamānā asṛkṣata pavitram ati dhārayā |
marutvanto matsarā indriyā hayā medhām abhi prayāṁsi ca || 25 ||
apo vasānaḥ pari kośam arṣatīndur hiyānaḥ sotṛbhiḥ |
janayañ jyotir mandanā avīvaśad gāḥ kṛṇvāno na nirṇijam || 26 ||
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).