Hymn to Soma Pavamāna
Rigveda IX.88 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. This Soma, Indra, is pressed for you; for you it purifies itself — drink of it. It is the drop you have made your own, the one you have chosen, Soma yoked for your exhilaration.
2. He has been yoked like a chariot that carries much, to win many great treasures. Then all the sons of Nahuṣa, standing upright by the wooden vat, cry out at his winning of the sun.
3. You who, like Vāyu with his team of horses, travel where you will; like the Nāsatyas, quickest to answer a call, most gracious; possessing every boon, like the giver of wealth in your own person — you are, O Soma, like Pūṣan, the one who speeds true insight.
4. You who, like Indra, have done great deeds — you are the slayer of the obstructing powers, O Soma, breaker of strongholds. Like Pedu's horse that slays the serpent-named foes, you are the slayer of every Dasyu, O Soma.
5. You who, like Agni let loose in the forest, freely make your bright forms in the streams — like a man in battle, with a great roar, Soma, purifying himself, sends up his wave.
6. These Soma-drops pass through the sheep's-wool filter, like heavenly pails that rain down from a cloud. Freely, like rivers running down to the sea, the pressed drops have poured themselves toward the vats.
7. Vigorous like the Marut host, purify yourself, unassailed, as the heavenly clan is unassailed. Like the waters, be quickly well-disposed toward us — you of a thousand forms, like a sacrifice that overcomes armies.
8. Yours, truly, are the ordinances of King Varuṇa; vast and deep is your realm, O Soma. You are bright, like beloved Mitra; you are worthy of honor, like Aryaman, O Soma.
Translator's note: "sahasrāpsāḥ" (7) is a compound of uncertain precise force — literally "having a thousand aps-" (forms, surfaces, or waters); rendered conservatively as "you of a thousand forms." "Nahuṣyāṇi jātā" (2), "the sons/offspring of Nahuṣa," is a standard epithet for the human race in the Rigveda and is kept literal rather than expanded to "mankind."
Colophon
Rigveda IX.88 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.88
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.
ayaṁ soma indra tubhyaṁ sunve tubhyam pavate tvam asya pāhi |
tvaṁ ha yaṁ cakṛṣe tvaṁ vavṛṣa indum madāya yujyāya somam || 1 ||
sa īṁ ratho na bhuriṣāḻ ayoji mahaḥ purūṇi sātaye vasūni |
ād īṁ viśvā nahuṣyāṇi jātā svarṣātā vana ūrdhvā navanta || 2 ||
vāyur na yo niyutvām̐ iṣṭayāmā nāsatyeva hava ā śambhaviṣṭhaḥ |
viśvavāro draviṇodā iva tman pūṣeva dhījavano 'si soma || 3 ||
indro na yo mahā karmāṇi cakrir hantā vṛtrāṇām asi soma pūrbhit |
paidvo na hi tvam ahināmnāṁ hantā viśvasyāsi soma dasyoḥ || 4 ||
agnir na yo vana ā sṛjyamāno vṛthā pājāṁsi kṛṇute nadīṣu |
jano na yudhvā mahata upabdir iyarti somaḥ pavamāna ūrmim || 5 ||
ete somā ati vārāṇy avyā divyā na kośāso abhravarṣāḥ |
vṛthā samudraṁ sindhavo na nīcīḥ sutāso abhi kalaśām̐ asṛgran || 6 ||
śuṣmī śardho na mārutam pavasvānabhiśastā divyā yathā viṭ |
āpo na makṣū sumatir bhavā naḥ sahasrāpsāḥ pṛtanāṣāṇ na yajñaḥ || 7 ||
rājño nu te varuṇasya vratāni bṛhad gabhīraṁ tava soma dhāma |
śuciṣ ṭvam asi priyo na mitro dakṣāyyo aryamevāsi soma || 8 ||
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).