Hymn to Soma
Rigveda IX.44 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.
O drop, thou rushest forth to spread us wide, like a river swelling with wave, unbridled, bearing thyself unto the gods.
Soma is stirred in far-off reaches, gladdened by thought, borne on the breath of the seer’s insight—Soma, the poet divine, flowing in his stream.
He, ever wakeful ‘midst the gods, goeth down, pressed through the straining cloth.
Soma the boundless maketh his holy path.
Make thyself pure for us, in longing for reward; make thine the cherished rite.
The priest, with holy grass in hand, calleth thee hither.
He whose champions are seers, whose might waxeth ever for Bhaga, for Vāyu—
Soma shall lead us unto the gods.
Thou who findest the will, and best discernest the way— to gift us goods this very day, win thou the meed and the high praise.
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.44
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 ṇa indo mahe tana ūrmiṁ na bibhrad arṣasi |
abhi devām̐ ayāsyaḥ || 1 ||
matī juṣṭo dhiyā hitaḥ somo hinve parāvati |
viprasya dhārayā kaviḥ || 2 ||
ayaṁ deveṣu jāgṛviḥ suta eti pavitra ā |
somo yāti vicarṣaṇiḥ || 3 ||
sa naḥ pavasva vājayuś cakrāṇaś cārum adhvaram |
barhiṣmām̐ ā vivāsati || 4 ||
sa no bhagāya vāyave vipravīraḥ sadāvṛdhaḥ |
somo deveṣv ā yamat || 5 ||
sa no adya vasuttaye kratuvid gātuvittamaḥ |
vājaṁ jeṣi śravo bṛhat || 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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