Hymn to Soma
Rigveda I.40 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Soma, the sacred plant-king whose pressed juice is both oblation and deity. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The ṛṣi (seer) to whom this hymn is attributed and its precise liturgical context are recorded in the traditional Śākalya Anukramaṇī.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
We call upon Brahmaṇaspati, the lord of prayer and sacred speech!
Thou art the priest of the immortal gods; thou art the keeper of the word.
The god who guideth all the sacrifices; who dwelleth in the Soma's heart.
Receive our praise, O mighty one; accept the gifts we now present.
Brahmaṇaspati, thy name meaneth "lord of the sacred words most sacred."
Thou art the grammarian of the gods; thou knowest every word and every phrase.
The ṛṣis study under thee; the poets learn from thy instruction.
Without thee, no prayer would bear its fruit; no sacrifice would find its mark.
Thou art the friend of Indra; thou art his counselor in every thing.
When battles rage and demons rise, thy wisdom guideth the god.
Thou speakest with authority; the gods do heed thy every word.
Thou makest known the will of heaven unto the mortal men below.
The power of the sacred word—the mantra—floweth forth from thee.
When spoken with the proper tone and with the proper intention held,
The word can heal or harm, can bless or curse, can bind or free.
O Brahmaṇaspati, thou art the master of this sacred power.
At the sacrifice, thou art present in the priest's most solemn intonation.
Thy wisdom guideth every gesture; thy knowledge underlieth every act.
The ritual performed correctly pleaseth the gods; the ritual done wrong brings woe.
Therefore we must honor thee, the lord and keeper of the sacred art.
We offer thee our reverence and our respect and our deep gratitude.
Teach us the proper words to speak; guide us in our sacred rites.
Let our prayers reach up to heaven; let our sacrifices please the gods.
O Brahmaṇaspati, be ever present in our hearts and on our lips.
Colophon
Rigveda I.40 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, the version that has been transmitted and is considered canonical in the mainstream tradition. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE; this hymn addresses Soma, the sacred plant-king whose pressed juice is both oblation and deity. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation session to be documented during Kshatriya Blood Rule audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.40
ut tiṣṭha brahmaṇas pate devayantas tvemahe |
upa pra yantu marutaḥ sudānava indra prāśūr bhavā sacā || 1 ||
tvām id dhi sahasas putra martya upabrūte dhane hite |
suvīryam maruta ā svaśvyaṁ dadhīta yo va ācake || 2 ||
praitu brahmaṇas patiḥ pra devy etu sūnṛtā |
acchā vīraṁ naryam paṅktirādhasaṁ devā yajñaṁ nayantu naḥ || 3 ||
yo vāghate dadāti sūnaraṁ vasu sa dhatte akṣiti śravaḥ |
tasmā iḻāṁ suvīrām ā yajāmahe supratūrtim anehasam || 4 ||
pra nūnam brahmaṇas patir mantraṁ vadaty ukthyam |
yasminn indro varuṇo mitro aryamā devā okāṁsi cakrire || 5 ||
tam id vocemā vidatheṣu śambhuvam mantraṁ devā anehasam |
imāṁ ca vācam pratiharyathā naro viśved vāmā vo aśnavat || 6 ||
ko devayantam aśnavaj janaṁ ko vṛktabarhiṣam |
pra-pra dāśvān pastyābhir asthitāntarvāvat kṣayaṁ dadhe || 7 ||
upa kṣatram pṛñcīta hanti rājabhir bhaye cit sukṣitiṁ dadhe |
nāsya vartā na tarutā mahādhane nārbhe asti vajriṇaḥ || 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).
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