Hymn to Soma
Rigveda II.43 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 2 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.
Again the Kapiñjala crieth out! The bird-omen speaks once more as Mandala Two draweth to its close. We have gathered at the altar. We have pressed the Soma. We have kindled the sacred fire. The sacrifice is reaching its culmination. The moment of revelation approacheth.
What doth the bird say now? Does it speak blessing or warning? Does it carry the favor of the gods or does it portend calamity? O faithful ones, listen with utmost attention! The voice of this humble creature may hold the fate of us all.
O Kapiñjala, thou art the final messenger, the closing benediction of the Gṛtsamada family songs. Thou hast heard all our prayers. Thou hast witnessed all our offerings. Thou hast seen our worship and our devotion. Now, as this great mandala endeth, speak thy truth to us!
We praise thee for thy sacred service. We honor thee as the voice of the gods made manifest in the form of a bird. Thou standest between the human and the divine. Thou speakest in a language older than words, a language of omen and of fate, of sign and of wonder.
As the sun beginneth its descent toward evening, as the day draweth to a close, as Mandala Two completeth its cycle — we bid thee, O Kapiñjala, to carry our gratitude to the throne of the gods. Carry our prayers upward on thy wings. Tell the divine ones that we have honored them. Tell them that we shall honor them again tomorrow and all the days that follow.
O final bird-omen, thou closer of cycles, thou keeper of mysteries! Let thy cry echo across the lands. Let it ring through the heavens. Let the gods hear it and know that mortals still remember them, still worship them, still seek their favor and their grace. Bless us now, O Kapiñjala, with thy benediction as the Gṛtsamada hymns draw to their sacred end.
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 II.43
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.
pradakṣiṇid abhi gṛṇanti kāravo vayo vadanta ṛtuthā śakuntayaḥ |
ubhe vācau vadati sāmagā iva gāyatraṁ ca traiṣṭubhaṁ cānu rājati || 1 ||
udgāteva śakune sāma gāyasi brahmaputra iva savaneṣu śaṁsasi |
vṛṣeva vājī śiśumatīr apītyā sarvato naḥ śakune bhadram ā vada viśvato naḥ śakune puṇyam ā vada || 2 ||
āvadam̐s tvaṁ śakune bhadram ā vada tūṣṇīm āsīnaḥ sumatiṁ cikiddhi naḥ |
yad utpatan vadasi karkarir yathā bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 3 ||
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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