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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 703 of 1027

Mandala 8: HYMN LXXXIII. Maruts.

1.THE Cow, the famous Mother of the wealthy Maruts, pours her milk: Both horses of the cars are yoked,—

2.She in whose bosom all the Gods, and Sun and Moon for men to see, Maintain their everlasting Laws.

3.This all the pious sing to us, and sacred poets evermore: The Maruts to the Soma-draught

4.Here is the Soma ready pressed of this the Maruts drink, of this Self-luminous the Aśvins drink.

5.Of this, moreover, purified, set in three places, procreant, Drink Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman.

6.And Indra, like the Herald Priest, desirous of the milky juice, At early morn will quaff thereof.

7.When have the Princes gleamed and shone through waters as through troops of foes’? When hasten they whose might ispure?

8.What favour do I claim this day of you great Deities, you who are Wondrously splendid in yourselves? 9 1 call, to drink the Soma, those Maruts who spread all realms of earth And luminous regions of the sky. 10 You, even such, pure in your might, you, O ye Maruts, I invoke From heaven to drink this Somajuice. 11 The Maruts, those who have sustained and propped the heavens and earth apart, I call to drink this Soma juice. 12 That vigorous band of Maruts that abidetb in the mountains, I Invoke to drink this Soma juice.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn keep inviting the Maruts to drink Soma repeatedly?

The hymn repeatedly invites the Maruts to drink Soma because it portrays the Maruts as the vigorous, world-supporting cohort whose strength and favor are renewed by the sacred draught; lines like “Here is the Soma ready pressed” and “I invoke… to drink this Soma juice” make the ritual moment the poem’s center. The persistent summons links the community’s offering to cosmic order: the Maruts sustain heaven and earth, and their partaking enacts and secures the “everlasting Laws.”

This echoes how other Vedic hymns treat Soma as a mediator between gods and worshippers, for example in Rig Veda Mandala 1 where Soma both empowers gods and binds them to human ritual reciprocity. The repeated formulaic call functions as liturgy and as poetic emphasis that the ritual must be received by those divine powers.

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