Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.109 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. Flow forth on every side for Indra, Soma — sweet also for Mitra, Pūṣan, and Bhaga.
2. May Indra drink your pressed juice, Soma, for insight and strength — and all the gods with him.
3. So flow, bright one, heavenly cream, for immortality, for great dominion.
4. Purify yourself, Soma, great ocean, father of the gods, toward every realm.
5. Flow bright and pure for the gods, Soma — for heaven and earth, and for the wellbeing of our offspring.
6. You uphold the sky, bright cream of heaven; flow pure, vigorous one, within the true order.
7. Purify yourself, Soma, glorious, well-streaming, ancient one, along the great fleece.
8. Guided by men, newborn, purified, may he pour out all things, joyous, finder of the sun.
9. The purifying drop, embracing offspring, may he make for us every kind of wealth.
10. Purify yourself, Soma, for insight and skill, like a racehorse washed clean, vigorous one, bound for the prize.
11. The pressers purify that sap of yours, Soma, for exhilaration, for great glory.
12. They cleanse the newborn child, the tawny one — Soma, the drop — in the filter, for the gods.
13. The lovely drop has purified itself for exhilaration, in the lap of the waters — the sage — for good fortune.
14. He bears the lovely name of Indra, by which he struck down every obstruction.
15. All the gods drink of him, blended with milk, pressed by men.
16. Pressed out, he has streamed in a thousand channels, through the filter, through the fleece of wool.
17. Vigorous, he has streamed, thousand-seeded, cleansed with the waters, blended with milk.
18. Go forth, Soma, into Indra's belly, guided by men, pressed by the stones.
19. The vigorous Soma has been released through the filter for Indra, in a thousand streams.
20. They anoint him with the sap of sweetness — the drop — for bull-strong Indra, for his exhilaration.
21. For the gods, freely, for splendor, they cleanse you, the tawny one, clothed in the waters.
22. The drop trickles down for Indra, trickles down — the mighty one, blending with milk, releasing the waters.
Translator's note: verse 13's "bhagāya" can mean either "for good fortune" or "for the god Bhaga" (named already in verse 1); the more common Pavamana usage is followed here. Verse 14's "jaghāna" ("struck down") does not name its grammatical subject explicitly — it may describe Indra's own deed or Soma's borrowed power, and the ambiguity is kept rather than resolved. Verse 21's "pājase" is rendered conservatively as "for splendor," a term used elsewhere in the Rigveda for radiance or outward form.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.109 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.109
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.
pari pra dhanvendrāya soma svādur mitrāya pūṣṇe bhagāya || 1 ||
indras te soma sutasya peyāḥ kratve dakṣāya viśve ca devāḥ || 2 ||
evāmṛtāya mahe kṣayāya sa śukro arṣa divyaḥ pīyūṣaḥ || 3 ||
pavasva soma mahān samudraḥ pitā devānāṁ viśvābhi dhāma || 4 ||
śukraḥ pavasva devebhyaḥ soma dive pṛthivyai śaṁ ca prajāyai || 5 ||
divo dhartāsi śukraḥ pīyūṣaḥ satye vidharman vājī pavasva || 6 ||
pavasva soma dyumnī sudhāro mahām avīnām anu pūrvyaḥ || 7 ||
nṛbhir yemāno jajñānaḥ pūtaḥ kṣarad viśvāni mandraḥ svarvit || 8 ||
induḥ punānaḥ prajām urāṇaḥ karad viśvāni draviṇāni naḥ || 9 ||
pavasva soma kratve dakṣāyāśvo na nikto vājī dhanāya || 10 ||
taṁ te sotāro rasam madāya punanti somam mahe dyumnāya || 11 ||
śiśuṁ jajñānaṁ harim mṛjanti pavitre somaṁ devebhya indum || 12 ||
induḥ paviṣṭa cārur madāyāpām upasthe kavir bhagāya || 13 ||
bibharti cārv indrasya nāma yena viśvāni vṛtrā jaghāna || 14 ||
pibanty asya viśve devāso gobhiḥ śrītasya nṛbhiḥ sutasya || 15 ||
pra suvāno akṣāḥ sahasradhāras tiraḥ pavitraṁ vi vāram avyam || 16 ||
sa vājy akṣāḥ sahasraretā adbhir mṛjāno gobhiḥ śrīṇānaḥ || 17 ||
pra soma yāhīndrasya kukṣā nṛbhir yemāno adribhiḥ sutaḥ || 18 ||
asarji vājī tiraḥ pavitram indrāya somaḥ sahasradhāraḥ || 19 ||
añjanty enam madhvo rasenendrāya vṛṣṇa indum madāya || 20 ||
devebhyas tvā vṛthā pājase 'po vasānaṁ harim mṛjanti || 21 ||
indur indrāya tośate ni tośate śrīṇann ugro riṇann apaḥ || 22 ||
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).