Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.16 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 pressers drive your juice forth with their arms, O Soma, for the eager exhilaration. Etaśa races on like a rushing torrent.
2. With purpose we follow the skilled charioteer, who clothes himself in the waters and in the plant-stalk, the winner of cattle, into the fine wool.
3. Send into the filter the Soma, unconquerable in the waters, hard to surpass. Purify him for Indra to drink.
4. With the mindful care of the one being purified, Soma flows forth into the filter; with purpose he has taken his seat, his common place.
5. With homage, the drops have poured themselves forth to you, O Indra — zealous ones, for the great gain.
6. Being purified in the form of the sheep's wool, flowing toward every splendor, he stands among the cows like a champion.
7. Like the swelling ridge of heaven, the stream of the pressed Soma, the ordainer, flows freely into the filter.
8. You, O Soma, wise and inspired, being purified continually among the living, run through the sheep's wool.
Translator's note: a few terms resist a single confident rendering — "oṇyoḥ" (verse 1, rendered "with their arms," from a rare word for the presser's forearms), "anaptam" (verse 3, rendered "unconquerable," an obscure epithet), "kāriṇaḥ" (verse 5, rendered "zealous ones," referring to the active drops or their pressers), and "vipaścitam" (verse 8, rendered "wise and inspired"). These are translated conservatively rather than confidently.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.16 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.16
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.
pra te sotāra oṇyo3 rasam madāya ghṛṣvaye |
sargo na takty etaśaḥ || 1 ||
kratvā dakṣasya rathyam apo vasānam andhasā |
goṣām aṇveṣu saścima || 2 ||
anaptam apsu duṣṭaraṁ somam pavitra ā sṛja |
punīhīndrāya pātave || 3 ||
pra punānasya cetasā somaḥ pavitre arṣati |
kratvā sadhastham āsadat || 4 ||
pra tvā namobhir indava indra somā asṛkṣata |
mahe bharāya kāriṇaḥ || 5 ||
punāno rūpe avyaye viśvā arṣann abhi śriyaḥ |
śūro na goṣu tiṣṭhati || 6 ||
divo na sānu pipyuṣī dhārā sutasya vedhasaḥ |
vṛthā pavitre arṣati || 7 ||
tvaṁ soma vipaścitaṁ tanā punāna āyuṣu |
avyo vāraṁ vi dhāvasi || 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).