Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.43 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 who is groomed like a well-fed steed, milk-blent for gladness, the sweet and stirring one— him we array in raiment of song.
All our hymns, in longing born, adorn him as of old,
the drop that Indra shall quaff with joy.
While he is strained, he maketh his way— the gladsome Soma, decked in praise, with the poet Medhyātithi’s god-breathed verse.
O Soma, self-cleansing stream, seek out for us fair treasure—
a wealth of a thousand gleams, O shining draught.
Like a steed that runs for the prize, he whinnies in the strainer, o’erflowing its bounds, seeking the gods with eager might.
Cleanse thyself for glory’s sake, for the uplifting of the seer whose voice exalts thee.
Soma, grant unto us a host of heroes.
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.43
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.
yo atya iva mṛjyate gobhir madāya haryataḥ |
taṁ gīrbhir vāsayāmasi || 1 ||
taṁ no viśvā avasyuvo giraḥ śumbhanti pūrvathā |
indum indrāya pītaye || 2 ||
punāno yāti haryataḥ somo gīrbhiḥ pariṣkṛtaḥ |
viprasya medhyātitheḥ || 3 ||
pavamāna vidā rayim asmabhyaṁ soma suśriyam |
indo sahasravarcasam || 4 ||
indur atyo na vājasṛt kanikranti pavitra ā |
yad akṣār ati devayuḥ || 5 ||
pavasva vājasātaye viprasya gṛṇato vṛdhe |
soma rāsva suvīryam || 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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