Hymn to Soma
Rigveda X.28 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.
While every other stranger hath come unto this place, my husband’s father alone hath not appeared.
Let him eat of the roasted grain, let him drink the soma deep.
Let him be well filled, and thence return again unto his house.
The sharp-hornèd bull, bellowing without end, hath mounted high, even to the heavens, and upon the broad earth he maketh his noise.
In all the gatherings of men, I shield him— he who, having pressed the soma, filleth both my cheeks with joy.
With stone they press the gladdening draught, the strong soma, full of might and sweetness— these they prepare for thee, Indra, and thou drinkest them.
They roast great bulls for thy feast, and thou eatest well— coming at the call, O generous one, hungering not.
Hearken to this word of mine, thou singer of hymns:
The rivers bear their flotsam backwards, against their own flow.
The fox crept upon the lion unawares;
the jackal sprang out of the brush upon the boar, his better.
How shall I mark this riddle of thine?
I, a plain man, how can I grasp the deep thought of one so cunning and strong?
Thou, who knowest all, shalt show us in good time toward which side thy chariot-pole will rest, O giver of riches.
For they strengthen me thus, and make me great; my chariot-pole reacheth higher than the very heavens.
Thousands I do crush at once beneath me— for he that sired me made me peerless, without match.
They knew me thus: strong, mighty, worthy of call.
At every deed, men cry, “Indra!”—the bull among gods.
I struck down Vṛtra with the mace, my spirit roused with soma; through my strength I burst the bars and opened the way for the godly.
The gods came forth with axes in hand.
They hewed the trees, and marched with their kindreds to the holy ground.
They laid the good wood in the fire’s belly, and where brushwood stood, the flames consumed it all.
The hare, seeing the razor come, swallowed it whole.
With but a clod of earth hurled from afar, I cleft a stone in twain.
Yea, the high and mighty shall I humble for the weak; and the calf, swelling in spirit, shall run after the bull.
The eagle caught his claw in kind, as the lion was snared in the hunter’s noose.
The buffalo too was caught, dying of thirst, and the monitor-lizard plowed him a way.
The lizard shall plow such a path for those who scorn the priests at their meal.
These same men eat the freed oxen, and by their own hand undo their strength, their very flesh.
But others have waxed in fortune, through rite and labor, and the pressing of the soma.
With bold speech they measured out the gifts— and thou, O Indra, hast fixed thy name as hero high in the heavens.
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.28
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.
viśvo hy a1nyo arir ājagāma mamed aha śvaśuro nā jagāma |
jakṣīyād dhānā uta somam papīyāt svāśitaḥ punar astaṁ jagāyāt || 1 ||
sa roruvad vṛṣabhas tigmaśṛṅgo varṣman tasthau varimann ā pṛthivyāḥ |
viśveṣv enaṁ vṛjaneṣu pāmi yo me kukṣī sutasomaḥ pṛṇāti || 2 ||
adriṇā te mandina indra tūyān sunvanti somān pibasi tvam eṣām |
pacanti te vṛṣabhām̐ atsi teṣām pṛkṣeṇa yan maghavan hūyamānaḥ || 3 ||
idaṁ su me jaritar ā cikiddhi pratīpaṁ śāpaṁ nadyo vahanti |
lopāśaḥ siṁham pratyañcam atsāḥ kroṣṭā varāhaṁ nir atakta kakṣāt || 4 ||
kathā ta etad aham ā ciketaṁ gṛtsasya pākas tavaso manīṣām |
tvaṁ no vidvām̐ ṛtuthā vi voco yam ardhaṁ te maghavan kṣemyā dhūḥ || 5 ||
evā hi māṁ tavasaṁ vardhayanti divaś cin me bṛhata uttarā dhūḥ |
purū sahasrā ni śiśāmi sākam aśatruṁ hi mā janitā jajāna || 6 ||
evā hi māṁ tavasaṁ jajñur ugraṁ karman-karman vṛṣaṇam indra devāḥ |
vadhīṁ vṛtraṁ vajreṇa mandasāno 'pa vrajam mahinā dāśuṣe vam || 7 ||
devāsa āyan paraśūm̐r abibhran vanā vṛścanto abhi viḍbhir āyan |
ni sudrva1ṁ dadhato vakṣaṇāsu yatrā kṛpīṭam anu tad dahanti || 8 ||
śaśaḥ kṣuram pratyañcaṁ jagārādriṁ logena vy abhedam ārāt |
bṛhantaṁ cid ṛhate randhayāni vayad vatso vṛṣabhaṁ śūśuvānaḥ || 9 ||
suparṇa itthā nakham ā siṣāyāvaruddhaḥ paripadaṁ na siṁhaḥ |
niruddhaś cin mahiṣas tarṣyāvān godhā tasmā ayathaṁ karṣad etat || 10 ||
tebhyo godhā ayathaṁ karṣad etad ye brahmaṇaḥ pratipīyanty annaiḥ |
sima ukṣṇo 'vasṛṣṭām̐ adanti svayam balāni tanvaḥ śṛṇānāḥ || 11 ||
ete śamībhiḥ suśamī abhūvan ye hinvire tanva1ḥ soma ukthaiḥ |
nṛvad vadann upa no māhi vājān divi śravo dadhiṣe nāma vīraḥ || 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).
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