Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.31 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 devout, self-purifying Soma streams have gone forth. They make wealth visible.
2. Over heaven and earth, become, O drop, the increaser of splendor. Become lord of the prizes.
3. For you the winds blow favorably; for you the rivers flow. Soma, they magnify your greatness.
4. Swell up — let your bull-strength gather to you from every side, Soma. Be present at the meeting where the prize is won.
5. For you, tawny one, the cows have milked out imperishable ghee and milk, upon the highest ridge.
6. Being well-armed, lord of all beings, we desire your friendship, O drop.
Translator's note: "drop" (indu) and "bull-strength" (vṛṣṇyam) are standing Soma epithets in the Rigveda — the pressed juice is pictured as a virile, bull-like force. "Highest ridge" (varṣiṣṭhe sānavi) likely names the top of the wool filter through which Soma is strained, imagined as a mountain peak.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.31 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.31
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 somāsaḥ svādhya1ḥ pavamānāso akramuḥ |
rayiṁ kṛṇvanti cetanam || 1 ||
divas pṛthivyā adhi bhavendo dyumnavardhanaḥ |
bhavā vājānām patiḥ || 2 ||
tubhyaṁ vātā abhipriyas tubhyam arṣanti sindhavaḥ |
soma vardhanti te mahaḥ || 3 ||
ā pyāyasva sam etu te viśvataḥ soma vṛṣṇyam |
bhavā vājasya saṁgathe || 4 ||
tubhyaṁ gāvo ghṛtam payo babhro duduhre akṣitam |
varṣiṣṭhe adhi sānavi || 5 ||
svāyudhasya te sato bhuvanasya pate vayam |
indo sakhitvam uśmasi || 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).