Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.36 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.
He is loosed like a steed loosed to run the course, poured through the filter, pressed into the twin cups.
The victor hath set foot upon the end-line.
As a keen-eyed draught-horse, O Soma, cleanse thyself, pursuing the gods past the sieve, onward to the vat that drippeth with honey.
O thou ancient, self-cleansing one, make the lights shine out before us;
drive us toward will, and toward craft.
Made fair by those who seek what is true, tended by the twin hands, he purifieth himself in the wool of the sheep.
Let all good things be his who is devout— of heaven, of earth, and of the space between— may Soma bring them as he maketh himself pure.
O Soma, thou ridest the spine of the sky, seeking kine, seeking steeds, seeking heroes,
O thou lord of might.
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.36
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.
asarji rathyo yathā pavitre camvoḥ sutaḥ |
kārṣman vājī ny akramīt || 1 ||
sa vahniḥ soma jāgṛviḥ pavasva devavīr ati |
abhi kośam madhuścutam || 2 ||
sa no jyotīṁṣi pūrvya pavamāna vi rocaya |
kratve dakṣāya no hinu || 3 ||
śumbhamāna ṛtāyubhir mṛjyamāno gabhastyoḥ |
pavate vāre avyaye || 4 ||
sa viśvā dāśuṣe vasu somo divyāni pārthivā |
pavatām āntarikṣyā || 5 ||
ā divas pṛṣṭham aśvayur gavyayuḥ soma rohasi |
vīrayuḥ śavasas pate || 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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