Rig Veda · 484 of 1027
Mandala 6: HYMN XLIII. Indra
1.IN whose wild joy thou madest once Śambara Divodāsa’s prey, This Soma is pressed out for thee, O Indra: drink!
2.Whose gladdening draught, shed from the points, thou guardest in the midst and end, This Soma is pressed out for thee, O Indra drink!
3.In whose wild joy thou settest free the kine held fast within the rock, This Soma is pressed out for thee, O Indra: drink!
4.This, in whose juice delighting thou gainest the might of Maghavan, This Soma is pressed out for thee, O Indra drink!
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn repeat “This Soma is pressed out for thee, O Indra: drink!” so often?
The hymn repeats that line to center the whole passage on an offering: each couplet narrates something Indra has done—making Śambara Divodāsa’s prey, freeing kine, giving Maghavan might—and then returns the ritual act of presenting Soma. The refrain turns diverse heroic deeds into a single liturgical moment where the god is invited to accept the consecrated drink.
Repetition also works as praise and pedagogy: the line models what the priests are to say and what worship accomplishes, joining myth and rite into one motion. The pattern resembles other Rig Veda hymns that bind heroic narratives to ritual speech, as when a refrain names the sacrament and restores attention to the altar.
Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.