Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.52 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. Heavenly one, bearer of ancient wealth, bring us strength with your juice. Pressed out, flow forward into the filter.
2. By your ancient paths, dear one, around the sheep's fleece, in a thousand streams, you flow on and on.
3. Push him who is like a stingy pot, O drop — push, too, the one who gives nothing. Strike him down with your blows, O smiter.
4. Put down the fury, O drop, much-invoked one, of these people — whoever points his hand against us.
5. With a hundred aids for us, O drop, or a thousand shining ones, flow pure, and grant us wealth.
Translator's note: "carur na" (verse 3) literally likens the target to an oblation-pot; rendered here as "stingy pot" to carry the sense of someone withholding rather than giving. "ādideśati" (verse 4) is rendered "points his hand against us," carrying the sense of one who singles out or threatens.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.52 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.52
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.
pari dyukṣaḥ sanadrayir bharad vājaṁ no andhasā |
suvāno arṣa pavitra ā || 1 ||
tava pratnebhir adhvabhir avyo vāre pari priyaḥ |
sahasradhāro yāt tanā || 2 ||
carur na yas tam īṅkhayendo na dānam īṅkhaya |
vadhair vadhasnav īṅkhaya || 3 ||
ni śuṣmam indav eṣām puruhūta janānām |
yo asmām̐ ādideśati || 4 ||
śataṁ na inda ūtibhiḥ sahasraṁ vā śucīnām |
pavasva maṁhayadrayiḥ || 5 ||
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).