Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.46 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. They have streamed forth to feast the gods, like eager steeds, flowing, grown strong upon the mountain.
2. The drops, adorned, like a young woman decked out in her father's gifts — the soma-drops have streamed forth to Vāyu.
3. These soma-drops, rich with offering, pressed in the two bowls, strengthen Indra through their workings.
4. Wash it clean, you skillful hands; seize the bright soma and the stirred soma; mix the exhilarating drink with milk.
5. Flow pure, winner of the prize, bestowing great bounty upon us — O Soma, finder of the way.
6. The ten fingers cleanse this one, fit to be cleansed, the self-purifying soma — the exhilarating rapture for Indra.
Translator's note: verse 4's "manthinā" (the stirred/churned soma) is read as paired with "śukrā" (the bright/clear soma) — two forms of the pressed juice being gathered together, rather than a separate agent.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.46 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.46
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.
asṛgran devavītaye 'tyāsaḥ kṛtvyā iva |
kṣarantaḥ parvatāvṛdhaḥ || 1 ||
pariṣkṛtāsa indavo yoṣeva pitryāvatī |
vāyuṁ somā asṛkṣata || 2 ||
ete somāsa indavaḥ prayasvantaś camū sutāḥ |
indraṁ vardhanti karmabhiḥ || 3 ||
ā dhāvatā suhastyaḥ śukrā gṛbhṇīta manthinā |
gobhiḥ śrīṇīta matsaram || 4 ||
sa pavasva dhanaṁjaya prayantā rādhaso mahaḥ |
asmabhyaṁ soma gātuvit || 5 ||
etam mṛjanti marjyam pavamānaṁ daśa kṣipaḥ |
indrāya matsaram madam || 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).