Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IV.22 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 4 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.
We have pressed the soma! We have prepared it with our hands! The sacred juice floweth in the bowl, golden and sweet-scented, mingling with milk and honey. Now cometh Indra to drink.
When he drinketh of this soma, O gods, what transformations occur! His body swelleth with divine energy. His eyes blazeth like the sun itself. The very air around him crackles and hummeth with power. His limbs become as towers of muscle. His breath shaketh the heavens.
The soma that we offer is not a common drink. Nay — it is the fluid of immortality itself. In it dwelleth the ecstasy of the gods. When Indra drinketh deep, he becometh one with the cosmic force. He is no longer merely a god among gods — he is the pulse of existence, the thundering heart of all that is.
He drinketh once, and the heavens tremble. He drinketh a second time, and the earth shaketh. He drinketh a third time, and all the worlds are shaken to their foundations. His body expandeth. His power groweth infinite. The boundaries between himself and the cosmos dissolve.
In that state of ecstatic union with the soma, Indra performeth his mightiest deeds. It is in that condition that he smote Vṛtra. It is in that condition that he propped apart the sky and the earth. It is in that condition that his thunderbolt becometh invincible, capable of piercing any armor, shattering any stronghold.
The soma maketh him what he is — not merely mighty, but divine in the fullest sense. Not merely powerful, but transcendent. Not merely a warrior, but the very embodiment of cosmic force.
We mortals, who drinketh not of the soma, can only glimpse the shadow of what Indra experienceth when he drinketh. Yet even that glimpse filleth us with wonder and awe. How can we praise thee adequately, O soma-drinker? Thou art beyond all praise.
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 IV.22
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.
yan na indro jujuṣe yac ca vaṣṭi tan no mahān karati śuṣmy ā cit |
brahma stomam maghavā somam ukthā yo aśmānaṁ śavasā bibhrad eti || 1 ||
vṛṣā vṛṣandhiṁ caturaśrim asyann ugro bāhubhyāṁ nṛtamaḥ śacīvān |
śriye paruṣṇīm uṣamāṇa ūrṇāṁ yasyāḥ parvāṇi sakhyāya vivye || 2 ||
yo devo devatamo jāyamāno maho vājebhir mahadbhiś ca śuṣmaiḥ |
dadhāno vajram bāhvor uśantaṁ dyām amena rejayat pra bhūma || 3 ||
viśvā rodhāṁsi pravataś ca pūrvīr dyaur ṛṣvāj janiman rejata kṣāḥ |
ā mātarā bharati śuṣmy ā gor nṛvat parijman nonuvanta vātāḥ || 4 ||
tā tū ta indra mahato mahāni viśveṣv it savaneṣu pravācyā |
yac chūra dhṛṣṇo dhṛṣatā dadhṛṣvān ahiṁ vajreṇa śavasāviveṣīḥ || 5 ||
tā tū te satyā tuvinṛmṇa viśvā pra dhenavaḥ sisrate vṛṣṇa ūdhnaḥ |
adhā ha tvad vṛṣamaṇo bhiyānāḥ pra sindhavo javasā cakramanta || 6 ||
atrāha te harivas tā u devīr avobhir indra stavanta svasāraḥ |
yat sīm anu pra muco badbadhānā dīrghām anu prasitiṁ syandayadhyai || 7 ||
pipīḻe aṁśur madyo na sindhur ā tvā śamī śaśamānasya śaktiḥ |
asmadryak chuśucānasya yamyā āśur na raśmiṁ tuvyojasaṁ goḥ || 8 ||
asme varṣiṣṭhā kṛṇuhi jyeṣṭhā nṛmṇāni satrā sahure sahāṁsi |
asmabhyaṁ vṛtrā suhanāni randhi jahi vadhar vanuṣo martyasya || 9 ||
asmākam it su śṛṇuhi tvam indrāsmabhyaṁ citrām̐ upa māhi vājān |
asmabhyaṁ viśvā iṣaṇaḥ puraṁdhīr asmākaṁ su maghavan bodhi godāḥ || 10 ||
nū ṣṭuta indra nū gṛṇāna iṣaṁ jaritre nadyo3 na pīpeḥ |
akāri te harivo brahma navyaṁ dhiyā syāma rathyaḥ sadāsāḥ || 11 ||
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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