Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.7 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. Mandala 9 is entirely devoted to Soma Pavamana — "Soma Purifying himself" — as it is pressed, filtered through a wool strainer, and offered to the gods.
1. The drops have surged forth along the path, in the order of truth, splendid ones, knowing their own course.
2. The first stream of sweetness pours forth, plunging into the great waters — an offering to be praised above all offerings.
3. The bull, foremost among the yoke-fellows of speech, has bellowed in the wood; the true rite moves toward its seat.
4. When the poet, wrapped in poetic skill and manly strength, streams all around, the vigorous one seeks to win the light of heaven.
5. Purifying himself, he settles down over the rival hosts and peoples like a king, when the sages set him moving.
6. The dear tawny one settles in the sheep's fleece, in the wooden vessels; the singer strains toward him with his hymn.
7. Together with his exhilaration he goes to Vāyu, to Indra, and to the two Aśvins — he who delights in keeping with his own laws.
8. The waves of sweetness, in their purifying, draw here Mitra, Varuṇa, and Bhaga, known through his powers.
9. For us, O Heaven and Earth, win wealth from the strength of the sweet Soma; win us together fame and goods.
Translator's note: several terms in this hymn are compact and admit more than one reading. "dharman" (v.1) is rendered "order" (a law or ordinance rather than a place); "agriyaḥ" (vv.2–3) as "first/foremost," describing the stream and the bull-voice of Soma; "śakmabhiḥ" (v.8) as "powers" (capacities or might); "vanuṣyate matī" (v.6) as "strains toward him with his hymn," a striving-and-desiring sense of the verb. These are rendered conservatively rather than smoothed into confident paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.7 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.7
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.
asṛgram indavaḥ pathā dharmann ṛtasya suśriyaḥ |
vidānā asya yojanam || 1 ||
pra dhārā madhvo agriyo mahīr apo vi gāhate |
havir haviṣṣu vandyaḥ || 2 ||
pra yujo vāco agriyo vṛṣāva cakradad vane |
sadmābhi satyo adhvaraḥ || 3 ||
pari yat kāvyā kavir nṛmṇā vasāno arṣati |
svar vājī siṣāsati || 4 ||
pavamāno abhi spṛdho viśo rājeva sīdati |
yad īm ṛṇvanti vedhasaḥ || 5 ||
avyo vāre pari priyo harir vaneṣu sīdati |
rebho vanuṣyate matī || 6 ||
sa vāyum indram aśvinā sākam madena gacchati |
raṇā yo asya dharmabhiḥ || 7 ||
ā mitrāvaruṇā bhagam madhvaḥ pavanta ūrmayaḥ |
vidānā asya śakmabhiḥ || 8 ||
asmabhyaṁ rodasī rayim madhvo vājasya sātaye |
śravo vasūni saṁ jitam || 9 ||
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).