Religion
Rig Veda 8.17: COME, we have pressed the juice for thee; O Indra, drink this Soma…
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896) · From The Hymns of the Rigveda (1896)
COME, we have pressed the juice for thee; O Indra, drink this Soma here
Sit thou on this my sacred grass.
O Indra, let thy long-maned Bays, yoked by prayer, bring thee hitherward
Give car and listen to our prayers.
We Soma-bearing Brahmans call thee Soma-drinker with thy friend,
We, Indra, bringing Soma juice.
Come unto us who bring the juice, come unto this our eulogy,
Fair-visored! drink thou of the juice.
I pour it down within thee, so through all thy members let it spread:
Take with. thy tongue the pleasant drink.
Sweet to thy body let it be, delicious be the savoury juice:
Sweet be the Soma to thine heart.
Like women, let this Soma-draught, invested with its robe, approach,
O active Indra, close to thee.
Indra, transported with the juice, vast in his bulk, strong in his neck
And stout arms, smites the Vrtras down.
O Indra, go thou forward, thou who rulest over all by might:
Thou Vrtra-slayer slay the fiends,
Long be thy grasping-hook wherewith thou givest ample wealth to him
Who sheds the juice and worships thee.
Here, Indra, is thy Soma-draught, made pure upon the sacred grass:
Run hither, come and drink thereof.
Famed for thy radiance, worshipped well this juice is shed for thy delight
Thou art invoked, Âkhaṇḍala!
To Kundapayya, grandson's son, grandson of Ṣringavṛish! to thee,
To him have I addressed my thought.
Strong pillar thou, Lord of the home armour of Soma-offerers:
The drop of Soma breaketh all the strongholds down, and Indra is the Rsis' Friend.
Holy Pṛidâkusânu, winner of the spoil, one eminent o'er many men,
Lead on the wild horse Indra with his vigorous grasp forward to drink the Soma juice.
Cite this poem
MLA
Veda, The Rishis of the Rig. “Rig Veda 8.17: COME, we have pressed the juice for thee; O Indra, drink this Soma….” Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/rigveda-rishis/635/.
Chicago
Veda, The Rishis of the Rig. “Rig Veda 8.17: COME, we have pressed the juice for thee; O Indra, drink this Soma….” Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/rigveda-rishis/635/.
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