Rig Veda 1.9.7: Mandala 1, Sukta 9, Mantra 7
Sukta 1.9
- Rishi
- Madhucchandas Vaiśvāmitra
- Devata
- Indra
- Chandas
- Gāyatrī
- Rasa
- Adbhuta (wonder) and Vira (heroism)
सं गोमदिन्द्र वाजवदस्मे पृथु श्रवो बृहत् । विश्वायुर्धेह्यक्षितम् ॥
saṃ gómad indra vā́javad asmè pṛthú śrávo bṛhát | viśvā́yur dhehy ákṣitam ||
يا إندرا، اجمعْ فينا الغنى المضيءَ (أشعّةَ المعرفةِ الحقّة) وامتلاءَ القوّة؛ وأودِعْ فينا صيتَ الحقِّ الواسعَ العظيم؛ وأقِمْ في كياننا حياةً كونيّةً لا تَبيد.
Word by Word
- सम्
- together; completelyIndeclinableupasarga (preverb), indeclinableRoot सम् (upasarga/avyaya)
- गोमत्
- possessing cows; rich in cattleAdjectiveneuter, nominative/accusative singular (used predicatively with implied ‘धनम्/रयिम्’ etc.)Role Karma (desired object/result) / viśeṣaṇaRoot गो- + -मत् (prātipadika: गोमत्)
- इन्द्र
- O IndraNoun (proper)masculine, vocative singularRole Sambodhana (addressed deity)Root इन्द्र (prātipadika)
- वाजवत्
- possessing strength/prize; rich in ‘vāja’ (victory, vigor, booty)Adjectiveneuter, nominative/accusative singular (predicative; parallel to गोमत्)Role Karma (desired object/result) / viśeṣaṇaRoot वाज- + -वत् (prātipadika: वाजवत्)
- अस्मे
- to usPronoun1st person pronoun, dative singular (Vedic form: अस्मे = अस्मै)Role Sampradāna (recipient)Root अस्मद् (sarvanāman)
- पृथु
- broad; wideAdjectiveneuter, nominative/accusative singular (agreeing with श्रवः)Role Karma / viśeṣaṇaRoot पृथु (prātipadika)
- श्रवः
- fame; glory; renownNounneuter, nominative/accusative singularRole Karma (that which is to be granted) / phalaRoot श्रवस् (prātipadika)
- बृहत्
- great; loftyAdjectiveneuter, nominative/accusative singular (agreeing with श्रवः)Role Karma / viśeṣaṇaRoot बृहन्त् (prātipadika)
- विश्वायुः
- lasting for the whole lifetime; life-extendingAdjectiveneuter, nominative/accusative singular (agreeing with अक्षितम्; ‘of all-life/for full lifetime’)Role Karma / viśeṣaṇaRoot विश्व- + आयुस् (prātipadika: विश्वायुस्)
- धेहि
- bestow; place (upon us)Verbimperative, 2nd person singular, parasmaipada (Vedic injunctive/imperative usage): ‘place, bestow’Role Kriyā (verbal action); governs कर्म (objects) and सम्प्रदान (अस्मे)Root धा (धातु)
- अक्षितम्
- imperishable; undecayingAdjective (past passive participle used adjectivally)neuter, nominative/accusative singular (agreeing with implied ‘धनम्/रयिम्’ or as an additional object with श्रवः)Role Karma / viśeṣaṇaRoot अ- + क्षि (kṣi ‘to perish’) → अक्षित (kṛdanta/prātipadika)
Sandhi Notes
- Padapāṭha-style resolution: सं गोमद् इन्द्र वाजवद् अस्मे पृथु श्रवः बृहत् । विश्वायुः धेहि अक्षितम् । External sandhi: (1) गोमदिन्द्र → गोमत् + इन्द्र (final -t before vowel; written as -द् in saṃhitā). (2) वाजवदस्मे → वाजवत् + अस्मे (final -t before vowel; written as -द्). (3) विश्वायुर्धेहि → विश्वायुः + धेहि (visarga before voiced dental becomes -r-). Accent marks in the saṃhitā (॑ etc.) indicate Vedic svara
- not repeated in the normalized pada forms above
The meaning
Outer meaning
Indra is asked to gather into the worshippers wealth with cows and strength with prizes; to place broad great fame and unperishing all-life.
Inner meaning
‘Go-mat’ is not cattle but rays of knowledge: may Indra collect and concentrate in us the light-rich resources of true seeing, and ‘vāja-vat’ the victorious force for works. Then may he establish ‘pṛthu śravaḥ bṛhat’—wide, vast hearing/fame, i.e., the soul’s receptivity and affirmation of Truth—and ‘viśvāyuḥ akṣitam’, an imperishable all-life: a stable life-energy aligned with the universal life-principle, not subject to inner wasting.
Universal truth
When knowledge (rays) and force (capacity to act) are integrated under illumined intelligence, life becomes wide, meaningful, and enduring—sustained by a deeper universal vitality.
Themes
inner victory over obstruction, illumination-and-force (go & vāja), attainment of the Vast, stabilization of immortal life-principle
The seer
- Rishi
- Madhucchandas Vaiśvāmitra
- Lineage
- Vaiśvāmitra
- Other hymns
- RV 1.1–1.11 (traditional group), RV 3.53 (Viśvāmitra hymns in Mandala 3, broader tradition)
Family tradition
Viśvāmitra line emphasizes mantra as power of transformation—speech that calls down illumination and victorious force (Indra) to found a wide truth-life.
Significance
Madhucchandas (‘sweet meter’) suggests a seer whose inspired speech harmonizes delight and force; here he seeks integrated light (go) and power (vāja) culminating in imperishable life.
The deity
- Devata
- Indra
- Epithets
- Maghavān, Purandara (breaker of strongholds, implied), Bṛhad (vast)
- Related deities
- Soma, Agni, Maruts, Sarasvatī
Cosmic role
Gathers the dispersed lights, wins the vāja (victorious energies), and establishes expansive truth-life.
Inner power
Integrator of mental powers: collects rays of insight and converts them into effective strength and stable vitality.
In ritual
Where it is used
Indra praise in Soma sacrifice context; also general prosperity/strength invocation
सं गोम॑दिन्द्र॒ वाज॑वद॒स्मे पृ॒थु श्रवो॑ बृ॒हत् । वि॒श्वायु॑र्धे॒ह्यक्षि॑तम् ॥
सम् । गोऽम॑त् । इ॒न्द्र॒ । वाज॑ऽवत् । अ॒स्मे इति॑ । पृ॒थु । श्रवः॑ । बृ॒हत् । वि॒श्वऽआ॑युः । धे॒हि॒ । अक्षि॑तम् ॥
sam | go--mat | indra | vāja-vat | asme iti | pṛthu | śravaḥ | bṛhat | viśva-āyuḥ | dhehi | akṣitam
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3×8
Balanced, gathering cadence—fits ‘saṃ’ (collecting) and ‘dhehi’ (place).
Produces a sense of consolidation and widening: calm strength with expansive uplift.
- sam
- Literal: together, wholly. Symbolic: integration/collection of scattered energies into a unified being
- go-mat
- Literal: possessing cows. Symbolic: possessing rays of light/knowledge; luminous riches
- vāja-vat
- Literal: possessing vāja (prize/strength). Symbolic: plenitude of effective force for right works
- asme
- Literal: in us. Symbolic: establishment in the embodied nature, not only as an idea
- pṛthu
- Literal: broad, wide. Symbolic: widening of consciousness beyond narrow ego
- śravaḥ
- Literal: fame, hearing. Symbolic: inner ‘hearing’ of truth; the soul’s acknowledged victory
- bṛhat
- Literal: vast, great. Symbolic: the Vast consciousness; expansion into bṛhat
- viśvāyuḥ
- Literal: all-life. Symbolic: universal life-force harmonized in the individual
- akṣitam
- Literal: imperishable, undecaying. Symbolic: stable vitality not drained by desire/fear; enduring prāṇa under truth
Indra-invocation in Soma liturgy (e.g., Agniṣṭoma-type Soma offerings); used as a praise-formula to invite Indra and to ask for ‘go’ and ‘vāja’ (illumination and force) in the yajña.
Around Soma offerings and Indra stotras; adaptable to morning recitation for ‘wide life’.
Invocation to ‘place’ (dhehi) qualities in the sacrificer—light, force, wide fame, imperishable life.
Meditate on gathering scattered attention: recite to consolidate mind, energize action, and affirm a sustainable life-force.
Key terms: (1) (go-mat): go ‘cow/light-ray’ + -mat ‘possessing’; go is multivalent: cow, ray, sense-light, knowledge—hence ‘illumined riches’. (2) (vāja-vat): vāja from √vaj/√vāj ‘to be strong, vigorous; to speed/impel’ → ‘force, victorious plenitude, energizing substance’; -vat ‘possessing’. (3) (śravas): from √śru ‘to hear’ → ‘that which is heard of’ = fame/glory; inwardly, the resonance of achieved truth in life. (4) (bṛhat): from √bṛh ‘to grow, expand’ → ‘the Vast’; a technical spiritual epithet in Vedic diction. (5) (viśva-āyus): viśva ‘all’ + āyus ‘life-force/lifespan’ (√i ‘to go, vital movement’) → integral life-energy. (6) (akṣitam): a- ‘not’ + kṣita (from √kṣi ‘to waste away, decay’) → ‘imperishable, non-diminishing’. (7) : imperative of √dhā ‘to place, set, establish’—suggests stable inner installation, not a passing gift.
Bṛhat (the Vast consciousness), integration/collection of energies (sam), imperishability (akṣita) as stable realization, life-force as universalized vitality (viśvāyuḥ)
‘saṃ’ and ‘pṛthu/bṛhat’ indicate alignment with the universal order rather than fragmented ego-motions.
‘śravaḥ’ as truth-fame: recognition of truth in consciousness.
From rays (go) and force (vāja) arises a stable universal life (viśvāyuḥ).
Integral Vedānta (Aurobindo): transformation of mind-life by illumination and widening.
morning (gathering light)
Collecting the inner ‘rays’ at the dawn of practice; building enduring vitality.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- The core mythic pattern is Indra as the releaser and increaser: he ‘gathers’ (sam) into the human being the herds of Light (go) and the victorious plenitude (vāja). This is the inner analogue of the Indra-myth of winning/recovering the cows (rays) from concealment and establishing the Vast (bṛhat) as an achieved condition—illumination plus force culminating in stable, imperishable life (akṣitam viśvāyuḥ).
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- Several lexemes align with inherited Indo-European poetic diction: √śru (śravas ‘fame’) parallels PIE *ḱleu- ‘hear’ → ‘fame’ (cf. Greek kléos, Old Irish clú). bṛhat from √bṛh ‘grow’ reflects the common IE metaphor of expansion for greatness. The imperative dhehi (√dhā ‘set/place’) continues a widespread IE verbal root *dʰeh₁- ‘put, place’. These inherited roots support the formulaic theme: ‘place in us imperishable fame/life’—a classic IE request for enduring glory reframed in Vedic spiritual terms.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The rishi speaks as a conscious participant in a reciprocal yoga of the sacrifice: Indra is not merely praised but requested to be an inner installer of states—illumination (gomat), force (vā́javat), vastness (bṛhat), and imperishable all-life (viśvāyuḥ akṣitam). The exchange is: aspiration and invocation from the human side, and the divine ‘placing’ (√dhā) of stable powers within the seeker—an intimate collaboration rather than an external bestowal.
Integration: gather rays of insight and convert them into steady force and sustainable vitality.
anāhata (widening)
Box breathing 4-4-4-4 while repeating ‘saṃ…dhehi…akṣitam’ to feel consolidation and stability.
Widened, collected, quietly powerful.
On inhale feel ‘saṃ’—collecting scattered mind; on exhale offer to Indra; then sit in the widened field (‘pṛthu/bṛhat’) and affirm stable life-energy (‘akṣitam’).
Maintain clear udatta rises on key nouns (índra, śrávaḥ) per recension; avoid flattening the cadence.
Let ‘saṃ’ be crisp and unhurried; give ‘pṛthu śravo bṛhat’ a widening, sustained tone.
‘saṃ’ with nasalization (anusvāra) before ‘go…’., ‘gomad’: keep ‘go’ long ‘o’; do not reduce to ‘gomed’., ‘pṛthu’: vocalic ‘ṛ’ clear (not ‘prithu’)., ‘viśvāyuḥ’: articulate ‘śv’ cluster cleanly., ‘akṣitam’: keep ‘kṣ’ conjunct distinct.
Expansive, resonant, steady.
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