Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.37 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, the bullish Soma, pressed for the draught, doth rush into the sieve, shattering the fiends as he goeth, with longing set upon the gods.
He, the tawny one with far-seeing eye, rusheth onward without stay, ever neighing as toward his womb he turneth.
He, the prize-bearer, self-cleansing, fleeteth through the shining ways of heaven, through the fleece of the ewe, a smiter of fiends.
He, purging himself on the back of Trita, with Trita’s kin about him, hath made the sun to shine forth in glory.
He, the slayer of Vṛtra, the mighty bull, finding the wide stead when pressed, cannot be beguiled—Soma hath flowed as unto a crown.
He, the god urged on by the singer, hasteneth to the wooden bowls, a drop full of bounty for Indra.
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.37
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.
sa sutaḥ pītaye vṛṣā somaḥ pavitre arṣati |
vighnan rakṣāṁsi devayuḥ || 1 ||
sa pavitre vicakṣaṇo harir arṣati dharṇasiḥ |
abhi yoniṁ kanikradat || 2 ||
sa vājī rocanā divaḥ pavamāno vi dhāvati |
rakṣohā vāram avyayam || 3 ||
sa tritasyādhi sānavi pavamāno arocayat |
jāmibhiḥ sūryaṁ saha || 4 ||
sa vṛtrahā vṛṣā suto varivovid adābhyaḥ |
somo vājam ivāsarat || 5 ||
sa devaḥ kavineṣito3 'bhi droṇāni dhāvati |
indur indrāya maṁhanā || 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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