Rig Veda 9.59.4: Mandala 9, Sukta 59, Mantra 4
Sukta 9.59
- Devata
- Soma Pavamāna
- Rasa
- Vira (heroism) and Adbhuta (wonder)
पवमान स्वर्विदो जायमानोऽभवो महान् । इन्दो विश्वाँ अभीदसि ॥
páv amāna svàrvido jā́yamāno 'bhavo mahā́n | índo víśvāṃ abhiíd asi ||
Oh Pavamāna, hallador de Svar, el mundo solar: al nacer te has vuelto inmenso. Oh Indu, por todos lados apremias a todos y los dominas.
Word by Word
- पवमानः
- purifying, flowing (Soma)Adjective (epithet of Soma)पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्Role कर्तृ (of अभवः)Root पवमान- (पु √pū ‘to purify’ > पवते; kṛdanta: शतृ/शानच्)
- स्वर्विदः
- finder/winner of heaven (light)Adjective/Noun (epithet)पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम् (ending -ः elided before voiced consonant in saṃhitā)Role कर्तृ (apposition to पवमानः)Root स्वर्- + विद् (√विद् ‘to know/find’); prātipadika: स्वर्विद्
- जायमानः
- being born, coming into beingAdjective (participial epithet)पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्Role कर्तृ (apposition to पवमानः)Root जायमान- (√जन् ‘to be born’ > जायते; kṛdanta: शतृ/शानच्)
- अभवः
- you became / you wereVerbलुङ् (aorist), परस्मैपदम्, उत्तम? (No) — मध्यम? (No) — प्रथमपुरुषः, एकवचनम्Role क्रिया (finite verb)Root √भू ‘to be, become’
- महान्
- greatAdjectiveपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्Role कर्तृ-विशेषणम् (predicate adjective with अभवः)Root महत्- (adj. stem)
- इन्दो
- O Indu (Soma)Noun (vocative)पुंलिङ्गः, सम्बोधन, एकवचनम्Role सम्बोधनRoot इन्दु- (Soma)
- विश्वान्
- all (of them)Adjective (used substantively with implied ‘enemies/foes’)पुंलिङ्गः, द्वितीया, बहुवचनम्Role कर्म (of अभीदसि)Root विश्व- (adj. ‘all’)
- अभीदसि
- you cleave/smiteVerbलट् (present), परस्मैपदम्, मध्यमपुरुषः, एकवचनम्Role क्रिया (finite verb)Root √भीद्/√भिद् (Vedic: ‘to split, cleave, pierce’; here ‘to smite/cleave’)
Sandhi Notes
- Saṃhitā: पवमान॒ स्व॑र्विदो॒ → पवमानः स्वर्विदः (visarga before voiced j- often realized as ’o’/’aḥ’ in pada)
- जाय॑मानोऽभवो → जायमानः अभवः (अः + अ → ओऽ in saṃhitā)
- इन्दो॒ → इन्दु (voc. sg. इन्दो)
- विश्वाँ॑ → विश्वान् (acc. pl. masc.)
The meaning
Outer meaning
O purifying one, finder of the sun-world, being born you have become great; O Indu, you press upon and master all from every side.
Inner meaning
As Soma is born again in the inner work (jāyamānaḥ: continually generated by aspiration and offering), it becomes mahān—vast in consciousness. It is svar-vid, the discoverer of the luminous plane (svar), meaning it uncovers the sun-world of illumination in the mind. As Indu, the bright essence, it surrounds and overmasters all forces (viśvān abhīd asi): it takes possession of the movements of mind, life, and body, compelling them toward truth and delight.
Universal truth
When inner joy is repeatedly generated and purified, it expands the being and reveals a higher light; then it can govern and harmonize all conflicting energies.
Themes
svarga-finding, expansion-of-consciousness, Soma-as-light
The seer
- Other hymns
- RV 9.59, RV 9.60
Significance
The voice emphasizes the yogic dynamic of repeated ‘birth’ of Soma—an inner experiential key in Aurobindonian reading: the higher delight must be generated again and again until it becomes vast and sovereign.
The deity
- Devata
- Soma Pavamāna (Indu)
- Epithets
- Pavamāna, Svar-vid (finder of the luminous world), Mahān (the Vast), Indu
- Related deities
- Sūrya, Indra, Agni
Cosmic role
Opens the solar realm of consciousness; empowers and harmonizes the cosmic forces through delight.
Inner power
Vastening Ananda that reveals illumination and masters the dispersed energies.
In ritual
Where it is used
Soma purification/chant during Soma-yajña
पव॑मान॒ स्व॑र्विदो॒ जाय॑मानोऽभवो म॒हान् । इन्दो॒ विश्वाँ॑ अ॒भीद॑सि ॥
पव॑मान । स्वः॑ । वि॒दः॒ । जाय॑मानः । अ॒भ॒वः॒ । म॒हान् । इन्दो॒ इति॑ । विश्वा॑न् । अ॒भि । इत् । अ॒सि॒ ॥
pavamāna | svaḥ | vidaḥ | jāyamānaḥ | abhavaḥ | mahān | indo iti | viśvān | abhi | it | asi
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4 × ~11 (Triṣṭubh-type)
Expansive with a conquering closure; ‘mahān’ and ‘abhīd’ carry forceful beats.
Elicits widening and confident mastery; suitable for invoking sovereignty of higher joy over inner chaos.
- svar-vidaḥ
- Literal: finder of svar (heaven/sun-world). Symbolic: Revealer of illumined consciousness; discovery of the ‘sun’ in the mind
- jāyamānaḥ
- Literal: being born. Symbolic: Recurrent arising of the higher state through practice and offering
- mahān
- Literal: great, vast. Symbolic: Vastness of consciousness; wideness that dissolves narrow ego-formation
- Indu
- Literal: bright drop. Symbolic: Concentrated luminous bliss-essence that can act on all parts of the being
- abhīd asi
- Literal: you press upon/overpower. Symbolic: A governing pressure of higher delight that subdues lower resistances
Praise of Soma’s emergence in purification and his attainment of svàr; used to affirm Soma’s victorious expansion and universal mastery in the sacrifice.
While Soma is being filtered and prepared for offering, especially in Pavamāna sequences.
Recitation to empower Soma’s clarifying and illuminating potency; affirming its greatness and dominion.
Use when seeking clarity and wideness: chant to shift from constricted mood to expansive luminous confidence.
√vid < PIE *weyd- ‘to see/know’ (English ‘wit’, Latin videre). svàr is the luminous world; svàr-vid is a key epithet: Soma as discoverer of the solar truth-plane. √jan marks manifestation; the paradox ‘being born, you became vast’ encodes the Vedic idea that the divine grows in the human vessel through the rite/inner practice.
svàr (plane of illumination), manifestation and growth of the divine in the human, universality (viśva) of truth-force
Mastery of all forces implies their reordering under Ṛta rather than impulse.
Svar discovery is emergence of truth-light in mind.
‘Being born’ and becoming vast echoes cosmic manifestation: repeated emergence of higher principle into lower nature.
Aurobindonian integral yoga lens: ascent to svar and descent of vast Ananda to govern nature.
dawn-to-sunrise (implied by svar discovery)
Sun = illumined mind; Soma’s birth = arising of joy; encircling mastery = higher consciousness taking possession of the sheaths.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- The mythologem is ‘finding svàr’: Soma as the power that discovers/opens the solar world of truth. Born in the rite (and in the seeker), Soma becomes ‘mahān’—vast consciousness—and then overmasters all opposing or limiting forces.
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- vid- ‘know/see’ is a classic PIE root (*weyd-). The epithet svàr-vid compresses a full mythic doctrine into a compound, typical of early Indo-European poetic diction where compounds function as portable mythic statements.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The Rishi celebrates Soma’s birth in the human-ritual field as the condition for the opening of svàr. The deity’s ‘greatness’ is not distant: it is activated through manifestation (jāyamānaḥ) and then acts universally within the aspirant, pressing upon all parts of the being (abhi…viśvān).
Generate and purify joy; expand it until it becomes a vast field; let it press gently but firmly on scattered thoughts and impulses to align them.
Anahata (expansion) and Sahasrara/upper mind (svar discovery).
Inhale wideness on 'mahān'; exhale steady pressure on 'abhīd asi' as a harmonizing command.
From narrowness to vast luminous mastery.
Practice ‘birth of Soma’: brief aspiration → feel a subtle delight arise → offer impurities into it → widen it beyond the body → affirm its governance over all parts.
Follow udatta marks and Vedic sandhi; maintain steady rise on emphasized syllables like pav-, svr- (as marked in text).
Give weight to 'pavāmāna', 'svarvido', 'mahān', and the closing 'abhīd asi' as a victorious seal.
svar-vido: keep 'svar' crisp (sv- cluster), do not insert a vowel., jāyamāno: long ā; nasal 'mā' clear., Indo: short, bright 'in-do' with dental d., viśvān: nasalized ending; keep 'śv' cluster clean.
Bright, expansive, slightly commanding on the final pāda.
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