Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.110 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 all around, indeed, for the winning of the prize, overpowering the obstacles on every side. You go on to overcome your haters, like one pursuing a debt.
2. We exult, following you, pressed Soma, for the great dominion of the contest. You plunge onward toward the prizes, O Purifying One.
3. You have engendered the sun, O Purifying One, by your power in distributing the milk, speeding along with Abundance, the quickener of cows.
4. You have engendered, O immortal one, among mortals, in the ordinance of truth, the lovely immortal draught. Ever-flowing, you stream on toward the prize.
5. Again and again, by your renown, you have bored open, like some unfailing spring, the people's inexhaustible drink — borne in the two hands, like arrows in the hand.
6. Then indeed, some who beheld the bond of kinship, the heavenly ones radiant with wealth, cried out toward it — as the god Savitar uncovers what is desired.
7. In you, Soma, the first ones who strewed the sacred grass set their insight, for great strength and fame. So you, hero, impel us toward heroic power.
8. The ancient, praiseworthy cream of heaven, which they have milked out from the great depth, from the sky itself — toward Indra, being born, they sang out together.
9. And since, Purifying One, over these two world-halves and all these beings you reign by your greatness — like a bull established in the herd, you stand out over all.
10. Soma, being purified in the woolen fleece, like a child at play, the Purifying One has streamed forth — the drop of a thousand streams, of a hundred prizes.
11. This one, being purified, honeyed and truthful, the drop clarifies itself for Indra — the sweet wave, winner of the prize, finder of freedom, bestower of vital power.
12. Flow on, Soma, overpowering those who make war on you, driving away the demons and the dangerous hidden places, well-armed, having conquered your foes.
Translator's note: A few phrases resist certainty. Verse 5's "borne in the two hands, like arrows" (śaryābhir na... gabhastyoḥ) may describe the pressed Soma being handled at the ritual like arrows gripped in the hand; the comparison is compressed in the Sanskrit and rendered here conservatively. Verse 6's "bond of kinship" (āpyam) could also mean simply "friendship" or "alliance." Verse 12's "dangerous hidden places" (durgahāṇi) denotes impassable or concealing terrain, here read as the lairs of the demons named in the same line.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.110 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.110
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.
pary ū ṣu pra dhanva vājasātaye pari vṛtrāṇi sakṣaṇiḥ |
dviṣas taradhyā ṛṇayā na īyase || 1 ||
anu hi tvā sutaṁ soma madāmasi mahe samaryarājye |
vājām̐ abhi pavamāna pra gāhase || 2 ||
ajījano hi pavamāna sūryaṁ vidhāre śakmanā payaḥ |
gojīrayā raṁhamāṇaḥ puraṁdhyā || 3 ||
ajījano amṛta martyeṣv ām̐ ṛtasya dharmann amṛtasya cāruṇaḥ |
sadāsaro vājam acchā saniṣyadat || 4 ||
abhy-abhi hi śravasā tatardithotsaṁ na kaṁ cij janapānam akṣitam |
śaryābhir na bharamāṇo gabhastyoḥ || 5 ||
ād īṁ ke cit paśyamānāsa āpyaṁ vasuruco divyā abhy anūṣata |
vāraṁ na devaḥ savitā vy ūrṇute || 6 ||
tve soma prathamā vṛktabarhiṣo mahe vājāya śravase dhiyaṁ dadhuḥ |
sa tvaṁ no vīra vīryāya codaya || 7 ||
divaḥ pīyūṣam pūrvyaṁ yad ukthyam maho gāhād diva ā nir adhukṣata |
indram abhi jāyamānaṁ sam asvaran || 8 ||
adha yad ime pavamāna rodasī imā ca viśvā bhuvanābhi majmanā |
yūthe na niṣṭhā vṛṣabho vi tiṣṭhase || 9 ||
somaḥ punāno avyaye vāre śiśur na krīḻan pavamāno akṣāḥ |
sahasradhāraḥ śatavāja induḥ || 10 ||
eṣa punāno madhumām̐ ṛtāvendrāyenduḥ pavate svādur ūrmiḥ |
vājasanir varivovid vayodhāḥ || 11 ||
sa pavasva sahamānaḥ pṛtanyūn sedhan rakṣāṁsy apa durgahāṇi |
svāyudhaḥ sāsahvān soma śatrūn || 12 ||
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).