Rig Veda · 137 of 1027
Mandala 1: HYMN CXXXVII. Mitra-Varuṇa.
1.WITH stones have we pressed out: O come; these gladdening drops are blent with milk, these Soma-drops which gladden you. Come to us, Kings who reach to heaven, approach us, coming hitherward. These milky drops are yours, Mitra and Varuṇa, bright Soma juices blent with milk.
2.Here are the droppings; come ye nigh the Soma-droppings blent with curd, juices expressed and blent with curd. Now for the wakening of your Dawn together with the Sun-God’s rays, juice waits for Mitra and for Varuṇa to drink, fair juice for drink, for sacrifice.
3.As ’twere a radiant-coloured cow, they milk with stones the stalk for you, with stones they milk the Soma-plant. May ye come nigh us, may ye turn hither to drink the Soma juice. The men pressed out this juice, Mitra and Varuṇa, pressed out this Soma for your drink.
Asked of Guide
Why do the hymns call the Soma plant a cow milked with stones for Mitra and Varuṇa?
The hymn personifies the Soma plant as a radiant cow to make the ritual vivid: the priests “milk with stones the Soma-plant,” turning the physical act of pressing into a sacred economy of nourishment owed to the gods. Calling Mitra and Varuṇa to “come nigh” and drink frames the offering as a transfer of vital juice—“milky drops…blent with milk”—that knits ritual labor, cosmic patrons, and the sacrificial feast.
This image also ties the plant’s juice to fertility and cosmic order familiar across Vedic texts; compare Rig Veda 1.91, where cosmic cattle and sacrificial sustenance interlock to sustain the gods and world. The cow-as-source motif makes the human pressing an intimate, necessary service that enlivens the gods and secures their favor.
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