Hymn to Soma
Rigveda X.114 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 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 by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
The twain that bear the heat—be it flame and sun, be it chant and tune—have stretched their reach o’er the threefold world.
Mātariśvan hath come unto their joy.
The gods, desiring the milk of the heavens, have labored; they know the song set right with melody.
Three dissolvers, holy in their tread, draw near to be marked by sight, For they who bear the song and hear from far away, these know them.
The seer-poets behold their bond, though they abide among hidden and far-off laws.
She that is richly decked, face gleaming with ghee, her locks fourfold braided, doth garb herself in the rites.
Two mighty eagles, bullish in their bearing, alight upon her—there, the gods find their lot.
The eagle is but one; yet it hath plunged into the sea and cast its gaze upon all that is.
I, with plain mind, beheld it close at hand: the mother doth lick it, and it licketh the mother.
The seers, the wise ones, shape the eagle in many fashions, though it be but one, by way of word.
They set their measures round the rites, and mete out twelve-fold draughts of soma.
They set the four as six and thirty, and climb the meter’s ladder unto the twelfth.
With soul-stirred thought, they have weighed the offering, and make the chariot move by verse and song.
Fourteen are the other strengths of this one chariot.
Seven wise men draw it on by speech.
But who shall speak of the wealthy ford— the path by which they sip the soma first?
A thousandfold are the fifteen praises; as broad as sky and earth, such is their stretch.
A thousandfold their thousand strengths. And speech flows as far as the sacred spell is spread.
Who among men is wise and knoweth the yokings of the meters?
Who hath laid hold upon the holy word?
Whom call they the eighth of the priestly kind?
Who hath seen the pair of pale bays that bear Indra?
Such ones go round the bounds of the earth, yet stand fast yoked unto the axle's hold.
The gods, perchance, bestow the fruit of toil upon them when Yama is set fast in his surest seat.
Colophon
This hymn is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation are to be documented during audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda X.114
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.
gharmā samantā trivṛtaṁ vy āpatus tayor juṣṭim mātariśvā jagāma |
divas payo didhiṣāṇā aveṣan vidur devāḥ sahasāmānam arkam || 1 ||
tisro deṣṭrāya nirṛtīr upāsate dīrghaśruto vi hi jānanti vahnayaḥ |
tāsāṁ ni cikyuḥ kavayo nidānam pareṣu yā guhyeṣu vrateṣu || 2 ||
catuṣkapardā yuvatiḥ supeśā ghṛtapratīkā vayunāni vaste |
tasyāṁ suparṇā vṛṣaṇā ni ṣedatur yatra devā dadhire bhāgadheyam || 3 ||
ekaḥ suparṇaḥ sa samudram ā viveśa sa idaṁ viśvam bhuvanaṁ vi caṣṭe |
tam pākena manasāpaśyam antitas tam mātā reḻhi sa u reḻhi mātaram || 4 ||
suparṇaṁ viprāḥ kavayo vacobhir ekaṁ santam bahudhā kalpayanti |
chandāṁsi ca dadhato adhvareṣu grahān somasya mimate dvādaśa || 5 ||
ṣaṭtriṁśām̐ś ca caturaḥ kalpayantaś chandāṁsi ca dadhata ādvādaśam |
yajñaṁ vimāya kavayo manīṣa ṛksāmābhyām pra rathaṁ vartayanti || 6 ||
caturdaśānye mahimāno asya taṁ dhīrā vācā pra ṇayanti sapta |
āpnānaṁ tīrthaṁ ka iha pra vocad yena pathā prapibante sutasya || 7 ||
sahasradhā pañcadaśāny ukthā yāvad dyāvāpṛthivī tāvad it tat |
sahasradhā mahimānaḥ sahasraṁ yāvad brahma viṣṭhitaṁ tāvatī vāk || 8 ||
kaś chandasāṁ yogam ā veda dhīraḥ ko dhiṣṇyām prati vācam papāda |
kam ṛtvijām aṣṭamaṁ śūram āhur harī indrasya ni cikāya kaḥ svit || 9 ||
bhūmyā antam pary eke caranti rathasya dhūrṣu yuktāso asthuḥ |
śramasya dāyaṁ vi bhajanty ebhyo yadā yamo bhavati harmye hitaḥ || 10 ||
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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