Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.28 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. This one — the prize-winner, set moving by the men, all-knowing, lord of thought — runs on through the sheep's wool.
2. This one has flowed onto the filter, this Soma pressed for the gods, entering all their dwelling places.
3. This one, an undying god, adorns himself upon his birth-place; he is the slayer of Vṛtra, most eager for the gods' feast.
4. This one, a bellowing bull, guided by the ten sister fingers, runs on toward the wooden vats.
5. This one, purifying himself, ever watchful, has made the sun shine; all-knowing, he enters every realm.
6. This one, mighty and undeceivable, Soma streams as he purifies himself, welcoming the gods, striking down the one whose speech is evil.
Translator's note: "daśabhir jāmibhir" (verse 4), literally "by the ten sisters/kin," is the standard Vedic image of the presser's ten fingers; rendered here as "the ten sister fingers" to keep the sense visible in English. "Devavītamaḥ" (verse 3) and "devāvīḥ" (verse 6) both describe eagerness for or welcome of the gods' feast; rendered idiomatically rather than word-for-word.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.28 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.28
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.
eṣa vājī hito nṛbhir viśvavin manasas patiḥ |
avyo vāraṁ vi dhāvati || 1 ||
eṣa pavitre akṣarat somo devebhyaḥ sutaḥ |
viśvā dhāmāny āviśan || 2 ||
eṣa devaḥ śubhāyate 'dhi yonāv amartyaḥ |
vṛtrahā devavītamaḥ || 3 ||
eṣa vṛṣā kanikradad daśabhir jāmibhir yataḥ |
abhi droṇāni dhāvati || 4 ||
eṣa sūryam arocayat pavamāno vicarṣaṇiḥ |
viśvā dhāmāni viśvavit || 5 ||
eṣa śuṣmy adābhyaḥ somaḥ punāno arṣati |
devāvīr aghaśaṁsahā || 6 ||
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).