Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.2 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 purely, O Soma, champion of the gods, swiftly across the filter — enter Indra, O drop, like a bull.
2. Surge up toward the great delight, O bull-drop, most brilliant one; sustaining, settle into your resting place.
3. The stream of the pressed Soma, the ordainer, has milked out its own dear sweetness; the wise-in-action one has clothed himself in the waters.
4. The great waters, the rivers, flow after you, the great one, when you will clothe yourself in milk.
5. The ocean has cleansed himself in the waters — pillar and support of heaven; Soma, favoring us, streams in the filter.
6. The tawny bull has bellowed, the great one, fair to see like a friend; he shines out together with the sun.
7. Your songs, O drop, are burnished with strength, songs eager at their work — the songs by which you are adorned for delight.
8. We beg you, that joyous one, for delight, maker of open space; great are your praises.
9. For us, O drop, seeking Indra, flow in a stream of sweetness, like Parjanya rich in rain.
10. O drop, you are a winner of cattle, a winner of men, a winner of horses, and a winner of spoils; you are the ancient self of the sacrifice.
Translator's note: verse 2's "psaras" (delight, feast, beauty) and "dharṇasiḥ" (sustainer, firm one) are compact epithets rendered conservatively; verse 8's "ghṛṣvi" (joyous, exultant) and "lokakṛtnu" (maker of room/space) are likewise terse Vedic epithets given their plain sense rather than a specific ritual gloss.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.2 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.2
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.
pavasva devavīr ati pavitraṁ soma raṁhyā |
indram indo vṛṣā viśa || 1 ||
ā vacyasva mahi psaro vṛṣendo dyumnavattamaḥ |
ā yoniṁ dharṇasiḥ sadaḥ || 2 ||
adhukṣata priyam madhu dhārā sutasya vedhasaḥ |
apo vasiṣṭa sukratuḥ || 3 ||
mahāntaṁ tvā mahīr anv āpo arṣanti sindhavaḥ |
yad gobhir vāsayiṣyase || 4 ||
samudro apsu māmṛje viṣṭambho dharuṇo divaḥ |
somaḥ pavitre asmayuḥ || 5 ||
acikradad vṛṣā harir mahān mitro na darśataḥ |
saṁ sūryeṇa rocate || 6 ||
giras ta inda ojasā marmṛjyante apasyuvaḥ |
yābhir madāya śumbhase || 7 ||
taṁ tvā madāya ghṛṣvaya u lokakṛtnum īmahe |
tava praśastayo mahīḥ || 8 ||
asmabhyam indav indrayur madhvaḥ pavasva dhārayā |
parjanyo vṛṣṭimām̐ iva || 9 ||
goṣā indo nṛṣā asy aśvasā vājasā uta |
ātmā yajñasya pūrvyaḥ || 10 ||
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).