Sukta 28

Mantra 1

विश्वो ह्यन्यो अरिराजगाम ममेदह श्वशुरो ना जगाम । जक्षीयाद्धाना उत सोमं पपीयात्स्वाशितः पुनरस्तं जगायात् ॥

Everyone else—the challenger—has come; but my own kin of the old order has not come. Let him eat the grains and drink the Soma; when he is well satisfied, let him go back again to his home-setting.

Mantra 2

स रोरुवद्वृषभस्तिग्मशृङ्गो वर्ष्मन्तस्थौ वरिमन्ना पृथिव्याः । विश्वेष्वेनं वृजनेषु पामि यो मे कुक्षी सुतसोमः पृणाति ॥

Roaring, the bull with sharp horns has taken his stand in the wide expanse of the Earth. In all the clans I protect that one who fills my belly with the pressed Soma.

Mantra 3

अद्रिणा ते मन्दिन इन्द्र तूयान्त्सुन्वन्ति सोमान्पिबसि त्वमेषाम् । पचन्ति ते वृषभाँ अत्सि तेषां पृक्षेण यन्मघवन्हूयमानः ॥

With the pressing-stone the gladdeners hasten and press the Soma for you, O Indra; you drink of it. They cook for you the strong foods; you partake of them, O bounteous one, when you are invoked with the offering-mixture.

Mantra 4

इदं सु मे जरितरा चिकिद्धि प्रतीपं शापं नद्यो वहन्ति । लोपाशः सिंहं प्रत्यञ्चमत्साः क्रोष्टा वराहं निरतक्त कक्षात् ॥

Understand this from me, O singers: the rivers carry back the curse upon the curser. The jackals drive the lion back; the hyena has dragged the boar out from the thicket—so reversals come when the order is turned against truth.

Mantra 5

कथा त एतदहमा चिकेतं गृत्सस्य पाकस्तवसो मनीषाम् । त्वं नो विद्वाँ ऋतुथा वि वोचो यमर्धं ते मघवन्क्षेम्या धूः ॥

How can I understand this—being only a learner—your mighty intention? You, the knower, tell it to us in the right season and order: what portion you have set, O bounteous one, for our secure dwelling in the path.

Mantra 6

एवा हि मां तवसं वर्धयन्ति दिवश्चिन्मे बृहत उत्तरा धूः । पुरू सहस्रा नि शिशामि साकमशत्रंम हि मा जनिता जजान ॥

Thus they increase me in strength; even beyond heaven my greater heights are set. Many thousands I harness together; for my begetter has borne me without a foe—made me a force unopposed.

Mantra 7

एवा हि मां तवसं जज्ञुरुग्रं कर्मन्कर्मन्वृषणमिन्द्र देवाः । वधीं वृत्रं वज्रेण मन्दसानोऽप व्रजं महिना दाशुषे वम् ॥

Thus the gods have generated me strong and fierce, a bull of power in every act, O Indra. I slew Vṛtra with the thunderbolt in the ecstasy; with my might I opened the pen for the giver.

Mantra 8

देवास आयन्परशूँरबिभ्रन्वना वृश्चन्तो अभि विड्भिरायन् । नि सुद्र्वं दधतो वक्षणासु यत्रा कृपीटमनु तद्दहन्ति ॥

The gods came bearing axes, cutting the forests; they advanced with the clans. They set the good-wood in the supports, where—following it—they burn away the creeping insect: so the powers clear what gnaws within.

Mantra 9

शशः क्षुरं प्रत्यञ्चं जगाराद्रिं लोगेन व्यभेदमारात् । बृहन्तं चिदृहते रन्धयानि वयद्वत्सो वृषभं शूशुवानः ॥

The hare has swallowed the razor turned back; with a clod it split the rock from afar. Even the vast I would make yield to the climber—like a calf growing strong upon the bull: so the small, when rightly trained, can master the hard.

Mantra 10

सुपर्ण इत्था नखमा सिषायावरुद्धः परिपदं न सिंहः । निरुद्धश्चिन्महिषस्तर्ष्यावान्गोधा तस्मा अयथं कर्षदेतत् ॥

Even the high-winged power, when it sharpens its claw, if held down, circles its own track like a lion confined. Even the mighty Bull, though full of thirsting force, when obstructed cannot break free; therefore the ‘godhā’ drags this out of its right course—this is the sign of a wrongly driven movement in us.

Mantra 11

तेभ्यो गोधा अयथं कर्षदेतद्ये ब्रह्मणः प्रतिपीयन्त्यन्नैः । सिम उक्ष्णोऽवसृष्टाँ अदन्ति स्वयं बलानि तन्वः शृणानाः ॥

For such as these, the creeping power drags the movement awry—those who ‘drink back’ the sacred force with food-offerings. They eat, as it were, the released draught of the bull; themselves they break their own bodily powers, shattering the strength of the embodied being.

Mantra 12

एते शमीभिः सुशमी अभूवन्ये हिन्विरे तन्वः सोम उक्थैः । नृवद्वदन्नुप नो माहि वाजान्दिवि श्रवो दधिषे नाम वीरः ॥

These became well-harmonized by acts of pacifying mastery—those who drive their embodied being forward for Soma by the uttered hymns. Speaking with the manly word, come near to us; increase for us the plenitudes of force. In heaven you establish fame and the name of the hero—an enduring stature in the luminous worlds.