Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.76 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 bearer of heaven flows clear, effective — the sap, the strength of the gods, to be praised by men. The tawny one, let loose like a racehorse by warriors, freely makes his shapes in the rivers.
2. Like a warrior he takes up weapons in his two arms, a charioteer seeking to win the sunlight in the quests for cattle. Stirring up Indra's fury through the men at their work, the drop, being sped onward, is driven forward by the wise.
3. O Soma, purifying yourself for Indra, growing mighty with your wave, enter into his belly. Swell out for us, as lightning swells the two world-halves through the cloud; with insight, measure out prizes to us again and again.
4. The king of all purifies himself for the sight of heaven's light; he has overpowered the seers and made them cry out the vision of truth. He who is groomed with the sun's mixture is father of all thoughts, his poetic power unmatched.
5. Like a bull among the herds, you flow around the vat, a roaring bull in the lap of the waters. You purify yourself for Indra, most exhilarating one, so that, aided by you, we may prevail in battle.
Translator's note: in verse 4, "āsireṇa" (rendered "the sun's mixture") is an obscure term — in Vedic ritual usage it most often denotes a milk-mixture added to soma; the exact sense of its pairing with "sūryasya" (of the sun) here is uncertain, and this rendering is conservative rather than confident.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.76 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.76
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.
dhartā divaḥ pavate kṛtvyo raso dakṣo devānām anumādyo nṛbhiḥ |
hariḥ sṛjāno atyo na satvabhir vṛthā pājāṁsi kṛṇute nadīṣv ā || 1 ||
śūro na dhatta āyudhā gabhastyoḥ sva1ḥ siṣāsan rathiro gaviṣṭiṣu |
indrasya śuṣmam īrayann apasyubhir indur hinvāno ajyate manīṣibhiḥ || 2 ||
indrasya soma pavamāna ūrmiṇā taviṣyamāṇo jaṭhareṣv ā viśa |
pra ṇaḥ pinva vidyud abhreva rodasī dhiyā na vājām̐ upa māsi śaśvataḥ || 3 ||
viśvasya rājā pavate svardṛśa ṛtasya dhītim ṛṣiṣāḻ avīvaśat |
yaḥ sūryasyāsireṇa mṛjyate pitā matīnām asamaṣṭakāvyaḥ || 4 ||
vṛṣeva yūthā pari kośam arṣasy apām upasthe vṛṣabhaḥ kanikradat |
sa indrāya pavase matsarintamo yathā jeṣāma samithe tvotayaḥ || 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).