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Rig Veda · 956 of 1027
Mandala 10: HYMN CXIX. Indra.
1.THIS, even this was my resolve, to win a cow, to win a steed: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
2.Like violent gusts of wind the draughts that I have drunk have lifted me Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
3.The draughts I drank have borne me up, as fleet-foot horses draw a car: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
4.The hymn hath reached me, like a cow who lows to meet her darling calf: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
5.As a wright bends a chariot-seat so round my heart I bend the hymn: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
6.Not as a mote within the eye count the Five Tribes of men with me: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
7.The heavens and earth themselves have not grown equal to one half of me Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
8.I in my grandeur have surpassed the heavens and all this spacious earth Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
9.Aha! this spacious earth will I deposit either here or there Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
10.In one short moment will I smite the earth in fury here or there: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
11.One of my flanks is in the sky; I let the other trail below: Have I not drunk of Soma juice? 12 1, greatest of the Mighty Ones, am lifted to the firmament: Have I not drunk of Soma juice? 13 I seek the worshipper’s abode; oblation-bearer to the Gods: Have I not drunk of Soma juice?
Asked of Guide
Why does the speaker keep repeating “Have I not drunk of Soma juice?” after each boast?
The refrain “Have I not drunk of Soma juice?” ties every boast to the ritual power of Soma and marks the speaker’s state as sacredly heightened; each claim of strength, flight, or triumph is presented as an effect of that draught. The hymn uses the repeated question to assert that these extraordinary acts—surpassing heaven and earth, smiting the earth, one flank in the sky—are authenticated by a solemn ritual cause.
The refrain also invites the audience to witness and acknowledge the transformation Soma produces: it makes the speaker “lifted to the firmament” and an “oblation-bearer to the Gods.” This reading matches other Rigveda hymns where Soma both empowers the seer and legitimates visionary or martial authority, as in Mandala 8’s hymns praising Soma’s energizing, world-transcending force.
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