Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.103 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 9 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.
Unto the master of the rite—even Soma, while his brightness is refined—I lift my fashioned speech as one proffers a precious gift, bearing it with gathered thought, that he may taste its sweetness.
He darts about the fleece of sheep, fresh-anointed with the milk of kine; in shining purity the tawny god ordaineth for himself three thrones of rest.
Around the honey-dropping vat he whirls upon the snowy wool, and the seven voices of the seers cry out in welcome to his rushing tide.
Ever circling—herald of thought, friend to every god, proof against all guile—the golden Soma, purified and radiant, hath taken harbour in the twin beakers.
Wheel thou likewise, by thine own divine free powers, yoked in one chariot with Indra; purified as an immortal cantor by mortal singers, roll onward in the hymn.
So, like a team that straineth for the prize, the god, pressed for the gods, runs clean through the straining-cloth; the self-cleansing one cleaves his path and is away.
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 IX.103
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.
pra punānāya vedhase somāya vaca udyatam |
bhṛtiṁ na bharā matibhir jujoṣate || 1 ||
pari vārāṇy avyayā gobhir añjāno arṣati |
trī ṣadhasthā punānaḥ kṛṇute hariḥ || 2 ||
pari kośam madhuścutam avyaye vāre arṣati |
abhi vāṇīr ṛṣīṇāṁ sapta nūṣata || 3 ||
pari ṇetā matīnāṁ viśvadevo adābhyaḥ |
somaḥ punānaś camvor viśad dhariḥ || 4 ||
pari daivīr anu svadhā indreṇa yāhi saratham |
punāno vāghad vāghadbhir amartyaḥ || 5 ||
pari saptir na vājayur devo devebhyaḥ sutaḥ |
vyānaśiḥ pavamāno vi dhāvati || 6 ||
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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