Hymn to Soma Pavamana
Rigveda IX.98 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 to us, O drop, wealth that wins strength above all, much-desired wealth, bearing a thousand supports, brilliant, overpowering.
2. Being pressed, he flows around the fleece as one puts on armor in a chariot; the drop, set toward the wood, driven on, flowed forth in streams.
3. Being pressed, the drop flowed around the fleece, stirred with rapture; as a stream rising upright at the rite, he goes forth shining, seeking cattle.
4. For you, O god, win goods for the ever-devoted mortal worshiper; O drop, you seek to bring wealth in the thousands, wealth of a hundredfold nature.
5. May we be nearest to this refreshment of yours, O Vṛtra-slayer, good one, of much-desired wealth — nearest to your favor, O unassailable one.
6. Whom the ten sister fingers, self-glorious, bathe — him pressed by the stone, dear and desired by Indra, full of waves.
7. They purify all around that desirable golden-brown one with the woolen strainer — he who goes to all the gods together with his rapture.
8. By his help, drinking, you accomplish strength; he who has set lofty fame among the patrons, desired like the sun in heaven.
9. For you two, O World-Halves, at the sacrifices, this drop of Manu was born; the god, dwelling on the mountain — you two goddesses honor him unfailingly, O loud-sounding one.
10. O Soma, you are poured out for Indra to drink, the Vṛtra-slayer, for the liberal hero, for the god who takes his seat.
11. Those ancient Soma-juices flowed into the filter at the breakings of dawn, snorting far away the crooked-minded, the witless ones, in the early morning.
12. O friends, may you and we, the patrons, obtain him who shines forth, who has the very scent of strength; may we win him whose house is full of strength.
Translator's note: verse 5 addresses Soma as "Vṛtra-slayer," an epithet more commonly given to Indra — the Soma hymns of Maṇḍala 9 regularly transfer Indra's feats to the Soma that empowers him. Verse 9 (rodasī, giriṣṭhā, tuviṣvaṇi) is grammatically compressed and admits more than one construal; the rendering here keeps the literal sense of each word rather than resolving the ambiguity.
Colophon
Rigveda IX.98 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.98
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.
abhi no vājasātamaṁ rayim arṣa puruspṛham |
indo sahasrabharṇasaṁ tuvidyumnaṁ vibhvāsaham || 1 ||
pari ṣya suvāno avyayaṁ rathe na varmāvyata |
indur abhi druṇā hito hiyāno dhārābhir akṣāḥ || 2 ||
pari ṣya suvāno akṣā indur avye madacyutaḥ |
dhārā ya ūrdhvo adhvare bhrājā naiti gavyayuḥ || 3 ||
sa hi tvaṁ deva śaśvate vasu martāya dāśuṣe |
indo sahasriṇaṁ rayiṁ śatātmānaṁ vivāsasi || 4 ||
vayaṁ te asya vṛtrahan vaso vasvaḥ puruspṛhaḥ |
ni nediṣṭhatamā iṣaḥ syāma sumnasyādhrigo || 5 ||
dvir yam pañca svayaśasaṁ svasāro adrisaṁhatam |
priyam indrasya kāmyam prasnāpayanty ūrmiṇam || 6 ||
pari tyaṁ haryataṁ harim babhrum punanti vāreṇa |
yo devān viśvām̐ it pari madena saha gacchati || 7 ||
asya vo hy avasā pānto dakṣasādhanam |
yaḥ sūriṣu śravo bṛhad dadhe sva1r ṇa haryataḥ || 8 ||
sa vāṁ yajñeṣu mānavī indur janiṣṭa rodasī |
devo devī giriṣṭhā asredhan taṁ tuviṣvaṇi || 9 ||
indrāya soma pātave vṛtraghne pari ṣicyase |
nare ca dakṣiṇāvate devāya sadanāsade || 10 ||
te pratnāso vyuṣṭiṣu somāḥ pavitre akṣaran |
apaprothantaḥ sanutar huraścitaḥ prātas tām̐ apracetasaḥ || 11 ||
taṁ sakhāyaḥ purorucaṁ yūyaṁ vayaṁ ca sūrayaḥ |
aśyāma vājagandhyaṁ sanema vājapastyam || 12 ||
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).