Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.14 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. The seer streams forth all around, resting on the wave of the river, carrying the deed that many long for.
2. When the five kindred bands, busy at their task, adorn the steadfast one with song.
3. Then in the surge of this mighty one all the gods rejoiced, when he clothes himself in the milk.
4. Streaming out, he runs forth, leaving behind the husks of his body; here he joins with his yoke-mate.
5. He who, like a bright youth groomed by the granddaughters of Vivasvant, makes the milk his garment.
6. Beyond the twin stages he goes crosswise toward the milk, over the fine wool; he raises the cry he knows as his own.
7. The fingers have gathered around him, cleansing the lord of refreshment; they grasp the flanks of the vigorous steed.
8. Touching all treasures, heavenly and earthly, come to us, Soma, seeking us out.
Translator's note: "the granddaughters of Vivasvant" (v.5) and "the fingers" (v.7) are standard Rigvedic figures for the hands/fingers of the priests pressing the soma stalks; "the five kindred bands" (v.2) is left conservative, as its exact referent (classes of beings, or the officiants) is debated; "the fine wool" (v.6) refers to the sheep's-wool filter through which the soma is strained; "the twin stages" (v.6) renders a grammatically dual noun (śritī) whose precise referent — two courses of the filtering, or some other paired stage of the pressing — is not specified by the text.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.14 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.14
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 prāsiṣyadat kaviḥ sindhor ūrmāv adhi śritaḥ |
kāram bibhrat puruspṛham || 1 ||
girā yadī sabandhavaḥ pañca vrātā apasyavaḥ |
pariṣkṛṇvanti dharṇasim || 2 ||
ād asya śuṣmiṇo rase viśve devā amatsata |
yadī gobhir vasāyate || 3 ||
niriṇāno vi dhāvati jahac charyāṇi tānvā |
atrā saṁ jighnate yujā || 4 ||
naptībhir yo vivasvataḥ śubhro na māmṛje yuvā |
gāḥ kṛṇvāno na nirṇijam || 5 ||
ati śritī tiraścatā gavyā jigāty aṇvyā |
vagnum iyarti yaṁ vide || 6 ||
abhi kṣipaḥ sam agmata marjayantīr iṣas patim |
pṛṣṭhā gṛbhṇata vājinaḥ || 7 ||
pari divyāni marmṛśad viśvāni soma pārthivā |
vasūni yāhy asmayuḥ || 8 ||
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).