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Rig Veda · 803 of 1027
Mandala 9: HYMN LXXX. Soma Pavamana.
1.ON flows the stream of Soma who beholds mankind: by everlasting Law he calls the Gods from heaven. He lightens with the roaring of Br aspati: h the lakes have not contained the pourings of juice.
2.Thou, powerful Soma, thou to whom the cows have -lowed, ascendest bright with sheen, thine iron-fashioned home. Thou, lengthening our princes’ life and high renown, flowest for Indra as his might to gladdening drink.
3.Best giver of delight, he flows to Indra’s throat, robing himself in might, Auspicious One, for fame. He spreads himself abroad to meet all things that be: the vigorous Tawny Steed flows sporting on his way.
4.The men, the ten swift fingers, milk thee out for Gods, even thee most rich in meath, with thousand flowing streams. Soma who winnest thousands, driven by the men, expressed with stones, bring, as thou flowest, all the Gods.
5.Deft-handed men with stones, the ten swift fingers, drain thee into waters, thee, the Steer enriched with sweets. Thou, Soma, gladdening Indra, and the Heavenly Host, flowest as Pavamana like a river’s wave.
Asked of Guide
Why is Soma called Pavamana and compared to a flowing river in this hymn?
The hymn shows Soma as a purifying, moving presence: verses repeat that he “flows” and is “Pavamana,” literally the one who purifies as he pours. The priests press him out “with stones” and “ten swift fingers,” and those pourings are described like a river bringing “all the Gods,” which links purification, vitality, and divine arrival in tangible ritual action.
Calling Soma Pavamana ties the juice’s physical movement to its ritual effect — it “lightens” and “gladdens” the gods and men and “lengthens our princes’ life.” This reading aligns with Sayana’s commentary on the Rigveda, which treats Pavamana as the sacrificial purifier whose flowing establishes contact between worshippers and the divine.
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