Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.22 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.
These fleet-flowing soma draughts have been sped forth, as prize-chariots loosed from the line, their surging sent in surges—
They rush abroad like the winds, like the downpour of Parjanya,
flitting as they please like the flickers of flame.
These clear-purged juices, mingled with curds, mindful of the poet’s breath, have soaked our inmost sight with fire-born song.
These deathless ones, once trimmed and tended, falter not in their running, pressing on to find the ways through the wind-swept space.
Widening their goings, they have filled
the backs of both world-halves, and this loftiest sky-road.
They have touched the topmost strand, where it lieth drawn along the slopes—
and that which lieth higher yet.
Thou, O Soma, took’st from the Paṇis the wealth of kine; thou roaredst forth toward the stretched gold-thread.
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.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.
ete somāsa āśavo rathā iva pra vājinaḥ |
sargāḥ sṛṣṭā aheṣata || 1 ||
ete vātā ivoravaḥ parjanyasyeva vṛṣṭayaḥ |
agner iva bhramā vṛthā || 2 ||
ete pūtā vipaścitaḥ somāso dadhyāśiraḥ |
vipā vy ānaśur dhiyaḥ || 3 ||
ete mṛṣṭā amartyāḥ sasṛvāṁso na śaśramuḥ |
iyakṣantaḥ patho rajaḥ || 4 ||
ete pṛṣṭhāni rodasor viprayanto vy ānaśuḥ |
utedam uttamaṁ rajaḥ || 5 ||
tantuṁ tanvānam uttamam anu pravata āśata |
utedam uttamāyyam || 6 ||
tvaṁ soma paṇibhya ā vasu gavyāni dhārayaḥ |
tataṁ tantum acikradaḥ || 7 ||
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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