Hymn to Soma Pavamāna
Rigveda IX.89 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 charger has been sent forth along the paths; like rain from heaven, the purifying one has streamed. With a thousand streams he has settled among us, Soma, in his mother's lap and in the wood.
2. The king of the rivers has put on his garment; he has mounted the straightest ship of truth. The drop, driven on by the falcon, grows strong in the waters. The father milks him; he milks the father's kin.
3. They approach the lion of honey, the tireless one, the tawny, ruddy lord of this heaven. The hero, foremost in battles, demands the cows; the bull guards them all around with his gaze.
4. They yoke the honey-backed, terrible, tireless horse, the lofty one, to the wide-wheeled chariot. His sisters, his kinswomen, groom him; those of common lineage give strength to the champion.
5. Four ghee-yielding ones attend him, seated together on one shared base. They flow to him, purifying themselves with homage; many, they surround him on every side.
6. He is the prop of heaven, the support of earth; and all dwellings rest in his hand. May your fountain, with its team, belong to the singer; the honeyed stalk purifies itself for Indra's might.
7. Winning, unurged, toward the feast of the gods, purify yourself for Indra, O Soma, slayer of Vṛtra. Grant us great wealth, rich in gold; may we be masters of heroic strength.
Translator's note: verse 2's "duha īm pitā, duha īm pitur jām" plays on the reciprocal father/son imagery common to Soma hymns (Soma as both begotten and begetter); rendered here literally as mutual milking rather than resolved into a single reading. Verse 7's "avātaḥ" (untranslated by any wind, i.e. unimpelled/of its own accord) is rendered "unurged."
Colophon
Rigveda IX.89 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.89
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.
pro sya vahniḥ pathyābhir asyān divo na vṛṣṭiḥ pavamāno akṣāḥ |
sahasradhāro asadan ny a1sme mātur upasthe vana ā ca somaḥ || 1 ||
rājā sindhūnām avasiṣṭa vāsa ṛtasya nāvam āruhad rajiṣṭhām |
apsu drapso vāvṛdhe śyenajūto duha īm pitā duha īm pitur jām || 2 ||
siṁhaṁ nasanta madhvo ayāsaṁ harim aruṣaṁ divo asya patim |
śūro yutsu prathamaḥ pṛcchate gā asya cakṣasā pari pāty ukṣā || 3 ||
madhupṛṣṭhaṁ ghoram ayāsam aśvaṁ rathe yuñjanty urucakra ṛṣvam |
svasāra īṁ jāmayo marjayanti sanābhayo vājinam ūrjayanti || 4 ||
catasra īṁ ghṛtaduhaḥ sacante samāne antar dharuṇe niṣattāḥ |
tā īm arṣanti namasā punānās tā īṁ viśvataḥ pari ṣanti pūrvīḥ || 5 ||
viṣṭambho divo dharuṇaḥ pṛthivyā viśvā uta kṣitayo haste asya |
asat ta utso gṛṇate niyutvān madhvo aṁśuḥ pavata indriyāya || 6 ||
vanvann avāto abhi devavītim indrāya soma vṛtrahā pavasva |
śagdhi mahaḥ puruścandrasya rāyaḥ suvīryasya patayaḥ syāma || 7 ||
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).