Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.84 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. Flow clear, gladdener of the gods, vigorous, winning the waters — for Indra, for Varuṇa, for Vāyu. Make for us today, in our wide dwelling, freedom joined with well-being; call out to the divine folk.
2. He who, deathless, has taken his stand over all the worlds — Soma flows around them all, binding together and loosing apart to gain the mastery; the drop follows, as the sun follows the dawn.
3. He who is released with the milk among the plants, thriving in the gods' favor, bringing wealth near, purifies himself with lightning-flash, in a flowing stream, once pressed — Soma gladdening Indra, the divine folk.
4. This same Soma purifies himself, winner of thousands, quickening speech that is vigorous and wakes at dawn. The drop stirs the sea with the winds; he settles into Indra's heart, into the vats.
5. The cows blend that Soma, grown strong on milk, with milk; with their hymns they blend him, finder of the sun. The wealth-winning, potent sap purifies himself — the inspired seer, radiant through his own poetic craft.
Translator's note: "urukṣitau" (verse 1) is rendered "in our wide dwelling," following its literal sense of a broad settlement or abode; some render it more abstractly as "wide domain." "Kāvyena svarcanāḥ" (verse 5) — "radiant through his own poetic craft" — is a compact compound; "svarcanāḥ" can also carry the sense "self-illumined" or "well-praised," and both nuances are likely intended together.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.84 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda IX.84
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.
pavasva devamādano vicarṣaṇir apsā indrāya varuṇāya vāyave |
kṛdhī no adya varivaḥ svastimad urukṣitau gṛṇīhi daivyaṁ janam || 1 ||
ā yas tasthau bhuvanāny amartyo viśvāni somaḥ pari tāny arṣati |
kṛṇvan saṁcṛtaṁ vicṛtam abhiṣṭaya induḥ siṣakty uṣasaṁ na sūryaḥ || 2 ||
ā yo gobhiḥ sṛjyata oṣadhīṣv ā devānāṁ sumna iṣayann upāvasuḥ |
ā vidyutā pavate dhārayā suta indraṁ somo mādayan daivyaṁ janam || 3 ||
eṣa sya somaḥ pavate sahasrajid dhinvāno vācam iṣirām uṣarbudham |
induḥ samudram ud iyarti vāyubhir endrasya hārdi kalaśeṣu sīdati || 4 ||
abhi tyaṁ gāvaḥ payasā payovṛdhaṁ somaṁ śrīṇanti matibhiḥ svarvidam |
dhanaṁjayaḥ pavate kṛtvyo raso vipraḥ kaviḥ kāvyenā svarcanāḥ || 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).