Hymn to Soma Pavamāna
Rigveda IX.17 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. Like rivers rushing down into the depths, striking down obstacles, impetuous — the swift soma drops have been let loose.
2. The pressed drops, like rains upon the earth, have flowed toward Indra.
3. Soma, the intoxicating exhilaration, surging past the waves, flows through the filter, striking down the demons, seeking the gods.
4. He runs into the jars, is poured through the filter, grows strong through hymns at the sacrifices.
5. Past the three luminous realms, O Soma, ascending, you shine as heaven; impelling, you urge onward like the sun.
6. The inspired singers have sung out to you at the head of the sacrifice, the poets, holding you dear before their eyes.
7. The men, inspired, seeking help, groom you with their thoughts, you the vigorous one, for the company of the gods.
8. Flow along the stream of sweetness, sharp one, having taken your seat at the gathering place — lovely, to be drunk for the sake of truth.
Translator's note: "devatātaye" (verse 7) denotes fellowship or communion with the gods; rendered here as "the company of the gods." "ṛtāya" (verse 8) carries the broader Vedic sense of cosmic order/truth, not truth in a narrow factual sense.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.17 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.17
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 nimneneva sindhavo ghnanto vṛtrāṇi bhūrṇayaḥ |
somā asṛgram āśavaḥ || 1 ||
abhi suvānāsa indavo vṛṣṭayaḥ pṛthivīm iva |
indraṁ somāso akṣaran || 2 ||
atyūrmir matsaro madaḥ somaḥ pavitre arṣati |
vighnan rakṣāṁsi devayuḥ || 3 ||
ā kalaśeṣu dhāvati pavitre pari ṣicyate |
ukthair yajñeṣu vardhate || 4 ||
ati trī soma rocanā rohan na bhrājase divam |
iṣṇan sūryaṁ na codayaḥ || 5 ||
abhi viprā anūṣata mūrdhan yajñasya kāravaḥ |
dadhānāś cakṣasi priyam || 6 ||
tam u tvā vājinaṁ naro dhībhir viprā avasyavaḥ |
mṛjanti devatātaye || 7 ||
madhor dhārām anu kṣara tīvraḥ sadhastham āsadaḥ |
cārur ṛtāya pītaye || 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).