Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.93 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. Together, the ten sister fingers have cleansed the swift-running thoughts of the wise one. The tawny drop ran around, kin to the sun, and reached the wooden vat like a prize-winning racehorse.
2. Like a calf bellowing along with its mothers, the bull, granter of many boons, has raced together with the waters. Like a young man going to his beloved at their meeting-place, he comes together with the bright milk in the vat.
3. And the udder of the inviolable cow has swelled full; the wise drop follows the streams. In the bowls the cows blend his crown with milk, as though with washed treasures.
4. You, purifying drop, desiring wealth rich in horses, open it up for us together with the gods. Let eager Purandhi come riding toward us on her chariot, to give us her treasures.
5. Now measure out for us wealth rich in men — all-shining wealth — as you are purified. O drop, may the life of the one who praises you be prolonged; at dawn, swiftly, may the one rich in devotion come.
Translator's note: verse 5's "vātāpyam" is an obscure epithet of the wealth being invoked; its precise sense is uncertain, so it is left close to the Sanskrit rather than resolved into a confident gloss. "Purandhi" (verse 4) is left as a proper name — she is the goddess/personification of abundance invoked elsewhere in the Rigveda.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.93 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.93
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.
sākamukṣo marjayanta svasāro daśa dhīrasya dhītayo dhanutrīḥ |
hariḥ pary adravaj jāḥ sūryasya droṇaṁ nanakṣe atyo na vājī || 1 ||
sam mātṛbhir na śiśur vāvaśāno vṛṣā dadhanve puruvāro adbhiḥ |
maryo na yoṣām abhi niṣkṛtaṁ yan saṁ gacchate kalaśa usriyābhiḥ || 2 ||
uta pra pipya ūdhar aghnyāyā indur dhārābhiḥ sacate sumedhāḥ |
mūrdhānaṁ gāvaḥ payasā camūṣv abhi śrīṇanti vasubhir na niktaiḥ || 3 ||
sa no devebhiḥ pavamāna radendo rayim aśvinaṁ vāvaśānaḥ |
rathirāyatām uśatī puraṁdhir asmadrya1g ā dāvane vasūnām || 4 ||
nū no rayim upa māsva nṛvantam punāno vātāpyaṁ viśvaścandram |
pra vanditur indo tāry āyuḥ prātar makṣū dhiyāvasur jagamyāt || 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).