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{{short description|Vedic ritual drink}}
{{dablink|This article is about the Vedic and Zoroastrian plant and ritual. See ] for other uses.}}
{{italic title}}
{{Hinduism small}}


In the ] tradition, '''''soma''''' ({{langx|sa|सोम|sóma}}) is a ritual drink<ref>Monier Williams (1899), A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, Oxford, the Clarendon Press, OCLC 458052227, page 1249.</ref><ref>. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved 2 December 2012.</ref> of importance among the early ].<ref>Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', p.43</ref> The ] mentions it, particularly in the ]. ] mentions the drink in chapter 9.<ref>{{cite Q|Q108659922|url=https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/9/verse/20|at=Chapter 9, Verse 20|website=www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org}}</ref> It is equivalent to the Iranian ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Toorn |first1=Karel van der |last2=Becking |first2=Bob |last3=Horst |first3=Pieter Willem van der |title=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible |date=1999 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-2491-2 |page=384 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=soma+haoma&pg=PA384 |access-date=24 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Guénon |first1=René |title=Symbols of Sacred Science |date=2004 |publisher=Sophia Perennis |isbn=978-0-900588-77-8 |page=320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnFHWKHBlEgC&q=soma+haoma&pg=PA320 |access-date=24 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
'''Soma''' (]), or '''Haoma''' (]) (from ] *''sauma-'') was a ritual drink of importance among the early ], and the later ] and ] cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the ], which contains many hymns praising its energizing or intoxicating qualities. In the ], Haoma has an entire ''Yasht'' dedicated to it.


The texts describe the preparation of soma by means of extracting the juice from a plant, the identity of which is now unknown and debated among scholars. Both in the ancient religions of ] and ], the name of the drink and the plant are not exactly the same.<ref name="Sarianidi">Victor Sarianidi, ] in The PBS Documentary ]</ref>
It is described as prepared by pressing juice from the stalks of a certain mountain plant, which has been variously hypothesized to be a ], ], or ]. In both Vedic and Zoroastrian tradition, the drink is identified with the plant, and also personified as a divinity, the three forming a religious or mythological unity.

There has been much speculation about the most likely ]. Traditional Indian accounts, such as those from practitioners of ], ], and ] called ]s, identify the plant as "Somalata" ('']'').<ref name=somalata>
{{cite book
| last= Singh | first= N. P. | date= 1988
| title= Flora of Eastern Karnataka, Volume 1
| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6-g-nU3bTjcC&q=soma&pg=PA416
| publisher= Mittal Publications | page= 416
| isbn= 9788170990673 }}
</ref>
Non-Indian researchers have proposed candidates including ], ], ] and ].


==Etymology== ==Etymology==
Soma is a Vedic Sanskrit word that literally means "distill, extract, sprinkle", often connected in the context of rituals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Monier Monier-Williams|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3NWAAAAcAAJ|year=1872|publisher=] (Reprint: 2001)|pages=1136–1137}}</ref>
Both ''Soma'' and ''Haoma'' are derived from ] ''*sauma-''. The name of the ]n tribe ''Hauma-varga'' is related to the word, and probably connected with the ritual. The word is also preserved in ] ''hom''. The word is derived from an Indo-Iranian root ''*sav-'' (Sanskrit ''sav-'') "to press", i.e. ''*sav-ma-'' is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant (cf. '']''). The root is probably ] (''*sewh-''), and also appears in '']'' (from ''*suhnu-'', "pressed out" i.e. "newly born").


Soma's ] cognate is the '']''. According to Geldner (1951), the word is derived from Indo-Iranian roots ''*sav-'' (Sanskrit ''sav-/su'') "to press", i.e. ''*sau-ma-'' is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant,<ref>K.F.Geldner, Der Rig-Veda. Cambridge MA, 1951, Vol. III: 1-9</ref> but the word and the related practices were borrowed by the Indo-Aryans from the ] (BMAC).{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}}{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=454–455}} Although the word is only attested in Indo-Iranian traditions, ] has proposed a ] origin from the root *{{PIE|sew(h)-}}.<ref>M. Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, Heidelberg 1986–2000, vol II: 748</ref>
==Vedic Soma==
In the ], Soma is portrayed as sacred and as a god (]). The god, the drink and the plant probably referred to the same entity, or at least the differentiation was ambiguous. In this aspect, Soma is similar to the Greek ] (cognate to '']''); it is what the gods drink, and what made them deities. ] and ] are portrayed as consuming Soma in copious quantities. The consumption of Soma by human beings, was probably under the belief that it bestowed them them divine qualities.
====In the Rigveda====
The '']'' (8.48.3, tr. ]) states,
:a ''áp&#257;ma sómam am&#341;t&#257; abh&#363;mâganma jyótir ávid&#257;ma devân''
:c ''kí&#7747; n&#363;nám asmân k&#7771;&#7751;avad ár&#257;ti&#7717; kím u dh&#363;rtír am&#7771;ta mártyasya''
:We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered.
:Now what may foeman's malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man's deception?
The Ninth ] of the ] is known as the '''Soma Mandala'''. It consists entirely of hymns addressed to '''Soma Pavamana''' ("purified Soma"). The drink Soma was kept and distributed by the ]s. The Rig Veda associates the ], ] and other regions with Soma (e.g. 8.7.29; 8.64.10-11). Probably the most important Soma region described in the Rig Veda is ] (e.g. RV 10.35.2; 9.113.1-2). In the Rig Veda, Soma is also associated with ] (see Frawley 2001 for references to Rig-vedic verses).


==Origins==
The plant is described as growing in the mountains (''giristha'', cf. ]), with long stalks, and of yellow or tawny ('']'') colour. The drink is prepared by priests pounding the stalks with stones, an occupation that creates ] (literally "heat", later referring to "spiritual excitement" in particular). The juice so gathered is mixed with other ingredients (including milk and honey) before it is drunk.
{{See also|Indo-Aryan migrations}}


The Vedic religion was the religion of some of the Vedic ] tribes, the ''{{not a typo|aryas}}'',{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=319}}{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=185}} who migrated into the Indus River valley region of the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}} The Indo-Aryans were speakers of a branch of the ] family, which originated in the ] and further developed into the ], which in turn developed out of the ] culture of the ]n ].{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised ],<ref name="Woodard2006">{{cite book|author=Roger D. Woodard|title=Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EB4fB0inNYEC&pg=FA242|date=18 August 2006|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-252-09295-4|pages=242–}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|See Kuzʹmina (2007), ''The Origin of the Indo-Iranians'', p.&nbsp;339, for an overview of publications up to 1997 on this subject.}} and show relations with rituals from the ], from which the Indo-Aryan people descended.{{sfn|Kus'mina|2007|p=319}} According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the ] (present-day ]) and (present-day) Iran.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=462}} It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements"{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=462}} which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}} from the ] (BMAC).{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}} This syncretic influence is supported by at least 383&nbsp;non-Indo-European words that were borrowed from this culture, including the god ] and the ritual drink Soma.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=454–455}} According to Anthony,
Growing far away, in the mountains, Soma had to be purchased from travelling traders. This is connected with the ] model, i.e. the plant supposedly grew in the homeland of the ], probably the ], but later migration to the ] removed them from the area of its occurrence, and it had to be imported. Later, knowledge of the plant was lost altogether, and Indian ritual reflects this, in expiatory prayers apologizing to the gods for the use of a substitute plant (e.g. ]) because Soma had become unavailable.
{{blockquote|Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, ], were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250&nbsp;hymns, a quarter of the ''Rig Veda''. He was associated more than any other deity with ''Soma'', a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from '']'') probably borrowed from the ] religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}}}}


====In Ayurveda==== ==Vedic soma==
{{Further|Somayajna|Mandala 9}}
The famous ] scholar ] wrote that the best Soma is found in the upper ] and ] region (Susruta Samhita: 537-538, SS.CS. 29.28-31).
In the ], the same word (soma) is used for the drink, the plant, and its deity. Drinking ''soma'' produces immortality (''Amrita'', Rigveda 8.48.3). ] and ] are portrayed as consuming soma in copious quantities. In the vedic ideology, Indra drank large amounts of soma while fighting the serpent demon ]. The consumption of soma by human beings is well attested in Vedic ritual. The ] of the Rigveda is completely dedicated to Soma Pavamana, and is focused on a moment in the ritual when the soma is pressed, strained, mixed with water and milk, and poured into containers. These actions are described as a representation of a variety of things, including a king conquering territory, the ] journey through the cosmos, or a bull running to mate with cows (represented by the milk). The most important myth about Soma is about his theft. In it, Soma was originally held captive in a citadel in heaven by the archer Kṛśānu. A falcon stole Soma, successfully escaping Kṛśānu, and delivered Soma to ], the first sacrificer. Additionally, Soma is associated with the moon in the late Rigveda and Middle Vedic period. Sūryā, the daughter of the Sun, is sometimes stated to be the wife of Soma.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephanie Jamison|title=The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190633394|pages=42–43}}</ref>


The '']'' (8.48.3) says:
====In Hinduism====
{{poemquote|
In ] art, the god Soma was depicted as a bull or bird, and sometimes as an embryo, but rarely as an adult human. In ], the god Soma evolved into a ], and became associated with the ]. The ] is the cup from which the gods drink Soma, and so Soma became identified with the moon god ]. A waxing moon meant Soma was recreating himself, ready to be drunk again. Alternatively, Soma's twenty-seven wives were daughters of ], who felt he paid too much attention to just one of his wives, ]. He cursed him to wither and die, but the wives intervened and the death became periodic and temporary, and is symbolized by the waxing and waning of the moon.
{{IAST|ápāma sómam amŕ̥tā abhūma
áganma jyótir ávidāma devā́n
kíṃ nūnám asmā́n kr̥ṇavad árātiḥ
kím u dhūrtír amr̥ta mártiyasya}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/lrc/rigveda/RV08.php#H048 |title=UT College of Liberal Arts: UT College of Liberal Arts |publisher=Liberalarts.utexas.edu |access-date=2018-10-04}}</ref>
}}


Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton translates this as:
==Zoroastrian Haoma==
{{poemquote|
====In the Avesta====
We have drunk the soma; we have become immortal; we have gone to the light; we have found the gods.
The ''Haoma'' of proto-Indo-Iranian origin was re-incorporated into Zoroastrianism during, or shortly after, the time of ] (''c.'' 1000 BCE). Evidence of its previous great importance of the ritual may be glimpsed from the ] (particularly in the ''H&#333;m Yast'', Yasna 9.11), and ] ''*hauma'' also survived as ] ''h&#333;m''. The plant ''Haoma'' yielded the essential ingredient for the ritual drink, ''parahaoma''.
What can hostility do to us now, and what the malice of a mortal, o immortal one?<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephanie Jamison|title=The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190633394|page=1129}}</ref>
}}


In the Vedas, soma "is both a plant and a god."<ref name=":102">{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Jay |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eastern Philosophy |publisher=] |year=2000 |isbn=9780028638201 |location=Indianapolis |pages=46 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In the ''H&#333;m ya&#353;t'' of the ], the '']'' (divine) Haoma appears to Zoroaster "at the time of pressing" (''havani ratu'') in the form of a beautiful man. Yasna 9.1 and 9.2 exhort him to gather and press Haoma plants. Haoma's epitheta include "the Golden-Green One" (''zairi-'', Sanskrit ''hari-''), "righteous" (''a&#353;avan-''), "furthering righteousness" (''a&#353;a-vazah-''), and "of good wisdom" (''hu.xratu-'', Sanskrit ''sukratu-'').


==Avestan haoma==
In Yasna 9.22, Haoma grants "speed and strength to warriors, excellent and righteous sons to those giving birth, spiritual power and knowledge to those who apply themselves to the study of the nasks". As the religion's chief cult divinity he came to be perceived as its divine priest. In Yasna 9.26, ] is said to have invested him with the sacred girdle, and in Yasna 10.89, to have installed Haoma as the "swiftly sacrificing ''zaotar''" (Sanskrit ''hotar'') for himself and the ]. Haoma services were celebrated until the ] in a strongly conservative village near ].
{{Main|Haoma}}
The finishing of ''haoma'' in ] may be glimpsed from the ] (particularly in the ''Hōm Yast'', Yasna 9), and ] ''*hauma'' also survived as ] ''hōm''. The plant ''haoma'' yielded the essential ingredient for the ritual drink, ''parahaoma''.


In Yasna 9.22, haoma grants "speed and strength to warriors, excellent and righteous sons to those giving birth, spiritual power and knowledge to those who apply themselves to the study of the nasks". As the religion's chief cult divinity he came to be perceived as its divine priest. In Yasna 9.26, ] is said to have invested him with the sacred girdle, and in Yasna 10.89, to have installed haoma as the "swiftly sacrificing ''zaotar''" (Sanskrit ''hotar'') for himself and the ].
====In European scholarship====
] speculating on an explanation provided by a ] priest:
:Haoma comprises the power of life of all the vegetable kingdom ... the zarathustri scriptures say that Haoma is of two kinds, the White Haoma and the Painless Tree ... could it be that Haoma is the ]? the giver of immortality?


==Post-Vedic mentions==
] speculated on a Zoroastrian origin for the ] myth:
{{See also|Chandra}}
:In a work published in 1939, the Parsi scholar ] has also remarked upon the analogy between the Grail and the Iranian Glory, ''xvarenah'', and the similari­ties between the legends of ] and those of the fabulous King ]. Let us add that in the cycle of compositions posterior to ], the Grail is won in India by ], ] (])'s son, accompanied by all the knights.


Soma has been mentioned in Chapter 9, verse 20 of ]:
==Candidates for the Soma/Haoma plant==
{{Poemquote|
There has been much speculation as to the original Soma/Haoma plant. It was generally assumed to be ], based on the verse of RV 8.48 cited above. But note that this is the ''only'' evidence of hallucinogenic properties, in a book full of hymns to Soma. The typical description of Soma is associated with excitation and ''tapas''. Soma is associated with the warrior-god Indra, and Haoma appears to have been drunk before battle. For these reasons, there are energizing plants as well as hallucinogenic plants among the candidates that have been suggested. In fact, several texts like the ] extol the medicinal properties of Soma and he is regarded as the king of medicinal herbs (and also of the ] class).
Those who perform actions (as described in the three ]), desiring fruit from these actions, and those who drink the juice of the pure Soma plant, are cleansed and purified of their past sins.
Those who desire heaven, (the Abode of the Lord known as ]lok) <ref>Bhagavad Gita on Indra Ch 10 verse 22</ref> attain heaven and enjoy its divine pleasures by worshipping me through the offering of sacrifices.
Thus, by performing good action (], as outlined by the three Vedas), one will always undoubtedly receive a place in heaven where they will enjoy all of the divine pleasure that are enjoyed by the Deities.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}{{refn|group=note|trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā<br>yajñair iṣhṭvā svar-gatiṁ prārthayante<br>te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam<br>aśhnanti divyān divi deva-bhogān}}}}


The ]'s ] involves a notion of "soma", said to be based on the Rigveda.<ref name=Williamson>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxD1SYaelLAC&q=tm+movement|title=Transcendent in America|isbn=9780814794708|access-date=23 February 2015|last1=Williamson|first1=Lola|date=January 2010|publisher=NYU Press }}</ref><ref>Hendel v World Plan Executive Council, 124 WLR 957 (January 2, 1996); affd 705 A.2d 656, 667 (DC, 1997)</ref>
===Mushrooms===
There is no direct indication in the ] or ] that Soma/Haoma is a ]. Some commentators have proposed several mushrooms as candidates, most frequently (originally by ] in the 1960s) '']'' (Fly Agaric or Toadstool).


== Candidates for the plant ==
The mushroom theory is supported by later ]an ] legends connected with ]-drinking, and it is indeed possible that in Tibet, the ] practice of eating psychedelic mushrooms, and subsequently drinking the urine of the one who has taken the mushroom, still containing much of the agent substance, has been connected with Vedic ] surrounding Soma, but this would of course not imply that the plants used in Tibet were identical to the original Indo-Iranian plant.
{{Main|Botanical identity of soma–haoma}}


There has been much speculation as to the original ''Sauma'' plant. Candidates that have been suggested include ], mushrooms, psychoactive and other herbal plants.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKeubCiBOPQC&q=soma+honey&pg=PA205 | first=Hermann | last=Oldenberg | title=The Religion of the Veda | year=1988 | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | isbn=978-81-208-0392-3 }}</ref>
] in his book "''The Food Of Gods''" takes issue with the ''Amanita muscaria'' theory and suggests the ]-containing '']'' mushroom as a Soma/Haoma candidate. McKenna argues that effects of the ''Amanita muscaria'' mushrooms contradict the description of the properties described in the Rigveda. ''Amanita muscaria'' mushrooms have properties that are arguably more ] than ]. Psilocybin, the active ] component in ''Stropharia cubensis'', on the other hand, has a strong hallucinogenic nature.


When the ritual of ] is held today in South India by the traditional ]s called ]s, the plant used is the ''somalatha'' (Sanskrit: soma creeper, '']'')<ref name=somalata /> which is procured as a leafless ].
===Cannabis===
] was also suggested, also based on Tibetan evidence. The Tibetan word for Cannabis is ''So.Ma.Ra.Dza.'', apparently a borrowing from the Sanskrit ''soma-raja'' "king Soma" or possibly "soma rasa" / "soma juice" which could be the same as "bhang". The choice of Cannabis as a candidate is further supported by the traditional ] use of this drug for energizing warriors. Other candidates include '']'' (Syrian Rue, suggested by David Flattery and Martin Schwartz in the 1980s), and species of '']''.


Since the late 18th century, when ] and others made portions of the Avesta available to western scholars, several scholars have sought a representative botanical equivalent of the ''haoma'' as described in the texts and as used in living Zoroastrian practice. In the late 19th century, the highly conservative Zoroastrians of ] (Iran) were found to use ], which was locally known as ''hum'' or ''homa'' and which they exported to the Indian Zoroastrians.<ref>Aitchison, 1888</ref>
===Ephedra===
]
The most likely candidate of the non-hallucinogenic, ] hypothesis is a species of the genus '']''. ], the agent substance in this plant, has a chemical structure similar to ]s, and it results in high blood-pressure, and according to anecdotal reports, it has a stimulating effect more potent than that of ].


During the colonial British era scholarship, ] was proposed as the soma candidate by Jogesh Chandra Ray, ''The Soma Plant'' (1939)<ref>Ray, Jogesh, Chandra, Soma Plant, Indian Historical Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 2, June, 1939, Calcutta</ref> and by B. L. Mukherjee (1921).<ref>Mukherjee, B. L., The Soma Plant, JRAS, (1921), Idem, The Soma Plant, Calcutta, (1922), The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1921)</ref>
Ephedra plants are shrubs, measuring between 0.2 and 4 meters, with numerous green or yellowish stems. There are about 30 species, mainly Eurasian. The species growing in mountainous regions have the highest ephedrine content (up to 3% in the case of '']''). The marrow in the stems is brown-coloured in some species, reminiscent of Sanskrit ''babhru'' ("greyish-brown"), used exclusively in the Vedas to describe the extract.


In the late 1960s, several studies attempted to establish ''soma'' as a ]. A number of proposals were made, including one in 1968 by the American banker ], an amateur ], who asserted that ''soma'' was an inebriant but not cannabis, and suggested fly-agaric mushroom, '']'', as the likely candidate. Since its introduction in 1968, this theory has gained both detractors and followers in the anthropological literature.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hallucinogens and Culture |last=Furst |first=Peter T.|year=1976|publisher=Chandler & Sharp |isbn=0-88316-517-1 |pages=96–108}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=John Brough|date=1971|title=Soma and "Amanita muscaria"|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=34|issue=2|pages=331–362 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X0012957X|jstor=612695|s2cid=84458441 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Feeney|first=Kevin|date=2020|title=Fly Agaric: A Compendium of History, Pharmacology, Mythology, & Exploration|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344507824|access-date=2020-12-27|website=ResearchGate|language=en}}</ref> Wasson and his co-author, ], drew parallels between Vedic descriptions and reports of Siberian uses of the fly-agaric in ] ritual.<ref>({{cite journal|last=Wasson|first=Robert Gordon|title=Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality|journal=Ethno-Mycological Studies|volume=1|location=New York|year=1968|isbn=0-15-683800-1}})</ref>
The different species of Ephedra are not well known, and their taxonomy is in a state of confusion. Assuming a Pontic-Caspian home of Indo-Iranian religions (see ]), the only likely candidate is '']'', still used in Iranian folk medicine.


In 1989 Harry Falk noted that, in the texts, both ''haoma'' and ''soma'' were said to enhance alertness and awareness, did not coincide with the consciousness altering effects of an ], and that "there is nothing shamanistic or visionary either in early Vedic or in Old Iranian texts", Falk also asserted that the three varieties of ephedra that yield ephedrine ('']'', ''E. major procera'' and '']'') also have the properties attributed to ''haoma'' by the texts of the Avesta.<ref>Falk, 1989, p 87</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}} At the conclusion of the 1999 Haoma-Soma workshop in Leiden, Jan E. M. Houben writes: "despite strong attempts to do away with ephedra by those who are eager to see sauma as a hallucinogen, its status as a serious candidate for the Rigvedic Soma and Avestan Haoma still stands".<ref>Houben, 2003</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}
The native name for Ephedra in most Indo-Iranian languages of Central Asia is derived from ''*sauma-'' (e.g. ] ''somalata'', ] ''oman''/''unan'', ] ''hum''/''huma''/''uma'').


The Soviet archeologist ] wrote that he had discovered vessels and mortars used to prepare soma in Zoroastrian temples in the ]. He said that the vessels have revealed residues and seed impressions left behind during the preparation of soma. This has not been sustained by subsequent investigations.<ref>{{cite journal|author=C.C. Bakels|title=Report concerning the contents of a ceramic vessel found in the "white room" of the Gonur Temenos, Merv Oasis, Turkmenistan|journal=EJVS|volume=9|date=2003|url=http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/issues.html|archive-date=2011-07-13|access-date=2010-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713190637/http://ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/issues.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Alternatively Mark Merlin, who revisited the subject of the identity of soma more than thirty years after originally writing about it<ref>Merlin, Mark, Man and Marijuana, (Barnes and Co, 1972)</ref> stated that there is a need of further study on links between soma and '']''.<ref>Merlin, M., Archaeological Record for Ancient Old World Use of Psychoactive Plants, Economic Botany, 57(3): (2008)</ref>
===Archaeological evidence===
Excavations of an early ] ] site in the ] desert, ] (''Gonur South'') revealed ceramic bowls in the context of a temple or shrine. The vessels were analysed by Professor Mayer-Melikyan and yielded traces of both ] and ]. In an adjacent room, ceramic pot-stands were found which appear to have been used in conjunction with ]s designed to separate the juices from the twigs, stems and leaves of the plants. A shrine at a later site (''Togoluk 1'', mid-second millennium) revealed a similar pottery strainer, but without traces of ]s.


According to ], the references to immortality and light are characteristics of an ]ic experience.<ref>Michael Wood, ].</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}
The late second millennium site ''Togoluk 21'' yielded vessels containing traces of Ephedra again,in conjunction with pollen of ]. These finds support the theory that the ] Sauma ''drink'' was a composite ] substance comprising of Ephedra and variously Cannabis or ], and probably other ingredients, and that the Sauma/Haoma ''plant'' was Ephedra. Other analyses of the residues from the Gonur and Togolok-21 vessels by Professor C.C. Bakels and other botanists, however, found traces only of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum).


==See also==
===Firsthand account by Swami Rama===
* ], a god associated with soma
In his autobiographical book ''Living with the Himalayan Masters'', which chronicles his life as an ascetic nomad in ] in the early 1900s, ] recalls contacting a well-known Indian herbologist and Vedic scholar named ], who is described as "the only living authority on soma" for information about the mysterious herb mentioned in the ]. Upon an invitation, Bhairavdutt comes to visit the ], bringing about a pound of the ] with him. He informs the swami that the soma plant is a "creeper which grows above 11,000 feet" and that "there are only two or three places where it grows at that altitude." Bhairavdutt goes on to explain that though the plant's effects can be likened to that of ], it is definitely not of the ] family, but rather of the ] family. It is unclear from the passage whether Bhairavdutt stops short of explicitly telling the swami what the herb is or whether the swami coyly avoids spelling out the name of the ] in the book.
* ], an equivalent divine plant in ]
* ], an edible equivalent in ] and ]
* ]
* ]
* Soma, a drug used by characters in the novel '']''.
* ]


==Notes==
Regardless, Swami Rama admits to being ignorant of whether or not Bhairavdutt's soma is the same plant described in Vedic scripture. Bhairavdutt convinces the swami to join him in partaking the soma, which Bhairavdutt brews by mixing the ''soma-rasa'' (soma juice) with ''ashtha varga'' (a mixture of eight herbs). The taste, says Swami Rama, is "a little bit bitter and sour." Soon after drinking the concoction, Bhairavdutt becomes inebriated, strips himself naked, and dances wildly, claiming he is ]. His behavior becomes so unsettling that several students who had come to visit the swami earlier that morning attempt to restrain the apparently slightly-built Bhairavdutt, but are unable to do so as he becomes "so strong that five people hold him down." Meanwhile, Swami Rama develops a crippling headache in reaction to the soma, and collapses in a corner clenching his head. The whole incident proves so disturbing to the swami that he concludes that the benefits one gains from using psychedelics are significantly outweighed by the damage it causes.
{{reflist|group=note|35em}}


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
*]: Blue Tide: The Search for Soma (Autonomedia 1999)
*]: The Rig Veda and the History of India, 2001.(Aditya Prakashan), ISBN 81-7742-039-9
*Parpola, Asko, ''The problem of the Aryans and the Soma: Textual-linguistic and archaeological evidence'', in: ''The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia'' ed. G. Erdosy, de Gruyter (1995), 353&ndash;381.
*Nyberg, Harri, ''The problem of the Aryans and the Soma: The botanical evidence'', in: ''The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia'' ed. G. Erdosy, de Gruyter (1995), 382&ndash;406.
* article from The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances by Richard Rudgley Little, Brown and Company (1998) (huxley.net)
* article from (iranica.com)
*PBS (pbs.org). Retrieved Feb. 5, 2005.
*Susruta Samhita. Transl. Kunjalal Bhishagratna, Varanasi: Chowkhama Sanksrit Series. 1981.
*Bakels, C.C. 2003. “The contents of ceramic vessels in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, Turkmenistan.” Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. Vol. 9. Issue 1c (May 5) http://users.primushost.com/~india/ejvs/ejvs0901/ejvs0901c.txt
*Swami Rama. Living with the Himalayan Masters. The Himalayan Institute Press. 1978.


==See also== ==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
*]
<!-- A -->
*]
* {{Citation | last =Anthony | first =David W. | year =2007 | title =The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World | publisher =]}}
*]
<!-- B -->
*]
*Bakels, C.C. 2003. in ''Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies'', Vol. 9. Issue 1c (May 2003)
*]
* {{Citation | last =Beckwith | first =Christopher I. | year =2009 | title =Empires of the Silk Road | publisher =Princeton University Press}}
*]
<!-- H -->
*], the fictitious drug described by ]
* {{cite book | last =Heesterman | first =Jan | year =2005 | chapter =Vedism and Brahmanism | editor-first =Lindsay | editor-last =Jones | title =The Encyclopedia of Religion | edition =2nd | publisher =Macmillan Reference | volume =14 | pages =9552–9553 | isbn=0-02-865733-0 | url =https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0000unse_v8f2|url-access=registration}}

<!-- J -->
==External links==
*Jay, Mike. ''Blue Tide: The Search for Soma''. Autonomedia, 1999.
*
<!-- K -->
* (avesta.org)
* {{citation |last=Kuz'mina |first=Elena Efimovna |author-link=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina |editor=J. P. Mallory |editor-link=J. P. Mallory |title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-9004160545}}

<!-- L -->
{{Rigveda}}
*Lamborn Wilson, Peter. ''Ploughing the clouds:The search for Irish Soma'', City Lights,1999.
<!-- M -->
*McDonald, A. "A botanical perspective on the identity of soma (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) based on scriptural and iconographic records" in ''Economic Botany'' 2004;58
<!-- S -->
* {{cite book |last=Singh |first=Upinder |author-link=Upinder Singh |year=2008 |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th&nbsp;century |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1120-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA195 }}
{{refend}}


{{Rigveda|state=collapsed}}


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Latest revision as of 22:12, 19 December 2024

Vedic ritual drink

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In the Vedic tradition, soma (Sanskrit: सोम, romanized: sóma) is a ritual drink of importance among the early Vedic Indo-Aryans. The Rigveda mentions it, particularly in the Soma Mandala. Gita mentions the drink in chapter 9. It is equivalent to the Iranian haoma.

The texts describe the preparation of soma by means of extracting the juice from a plant, the identity of which is now unknown and debated among scholars. Both in the ancient religions of Historical Vedic religion and Zoroastrianism, the name of the drink and the plant are not exactly the same.

There has been much speculation about the most likely identity of the original plant. Traditional Indian accounts, such as those from practitioners of Ayurveda, Siddha medicine, and Somayajna called Somayajis, identify the plant as "Somalata" (Cynanchum acidum). Non-Indian researchers have proposed candidates including Amanita muscaria, Psilocybin mushrooms, Peganum harmala and Ephedra sinica.

Etymology

Soma is a Vedic Sanskrit word that literally means "distill, extract, sprinkle", often connected in the context of rituals.

Soma's Avestan cognate is the haoma. According to Geldner (1951), the word is derived from Indo-Iranian roots *sav- (Sanskrit sav-/su) "to press", i.e. *sau-ma- is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant, but the word and the related practices were borrowed by the Indo-Aryans from the Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC). Although the word is only attested in Indo-Iranian traditions, Manfred Mayrhofer has proposed a Proto-Indo-European origin from the root *sew(h)-.

Origins

See also: Indo-Aryan migrations

The Vedic religion was the religion of some of the Vedic Indo-Aryan tribes, the aryas, who migrated into the Indus River valley region of the Indian subcontinent. The Indo-Aryans were speakers of a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Sintashta culture and further developed into the Andronovo culture, which in turn developed out of the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and show relations with rituals from the Andronovo culture, from which the Indo-Aryan people descended. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements" which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC). This syncretic influence is supported by at least 383 non-Indo-European words that were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma. According to Anthony,

Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.

Vedic soma

Further information: Somayajna and Mandala 9

In the Vedas, the same word (soma) is used for the drink, the plant, and its deity. Drinking soma produces immortality (Amrita, Rigveda 8.48.3). Indra and Agni are portrayed as consuming soma in copious quantities. In the vedic ideology, Indra drank large amounts of soma while fighting the serpent demon Vritra. The consumption of soma by human beings is well attested in Vedic ritual. The Soma Mandala of the Rigveda is completely dedicated to Soma Pavamana, and is focused on a moment in the ritual when the soma is pressed, strained, mixed with water and milk, and poured into containers. These actions are described as a representation of a variety of things, including a king conquering territory, the Sun's journey through the cosmos, or a bull running to mate with cows (represented by the milk). The most important myth about Soma is about his theft. In it, Soma was originally held captive in a citadel in heaven by the archer Kṛśānu. A falcon stole Soma, successfully escaping Kṛśānu, and delivered Soma to Manu, the first sacrificer. Additionally, Soma is associated with the moon in the late Rigveda and Middle Vedic period. Sūryā, the daughter of the Sun, is sometimes stated to be the wife of Soma.

The Rigveda (8.48.3) says:

ápāma sómam amŕ̥tā abhūma
áganma jyótir ávidāma devā́n
kíṃ nūnám asmā́n kr̥ṇavad árātiḥ
kím u dhūrtír amr̥ta mártiyasya

Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton translates this as:

We have drunk the soma; we have become immortal; we have gone to the light; we have found the gods.
What can hostility do to us now, and what the malice of a mortal, o immortal one?

In the Vedas, soma "is both a plant and a god."

Avestan haoma

Main article: Haoma

The finishing of haoma in Zoroastrianism may be glimpsed from the Avesta (particularly in the Hōm Yast, Yasna 9), and Avestan language *hauma also survived as Middle Persian hōm. The plant haoma yielded the essential ingredient for the ritual drink, parahaoma.

In Yasna 9.22, haoma grants "speed and strength to warriors, excellent and righteous sons to those giving birth, spiritual power and knowledge to those who apply themselves to the study of the nasks". As the religion's chief cult divinity he came to be perceived as its divine priest. In Yasna 9.26, Ahura Mazda is said to have invested him with the sacred girdle, and in Yasna 10.89, to have installed haoma as the "swiftly sacrificing zaotar" (Sanskrit hotar) for himself and the Amesha Spenta.

Post-Vedic mentions

See also: Chandra

Soma has been mentioned in Chapter 9, verse 20 of Bhagavad Gita:

Those who perform actions (as described in the three Vedas), desiring fruit from these actions, and those who drink the juice of the pure Soma plant, are cleansed and purified of their past sins.
Those who desire heaven, (the Abode of the Lord known as Indralok) attain heaven and enjoy its divine pleasures by worshipping me through the offering of sacrifices.
Thus, by performing good action (Karma, as outlined by the three Vedas), one will always undoubtedly receive a place in heaven where they will enjoy all of the divine pleasure that are enjoyed by the Deities.

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi Program involves a notion of "soma", said to be based on the Rigveda.

Candidates for the plant

Main article: Botanical identity of soma–haoma

There has been much speculation as to the original Sauma plant. Candidates that have been suggested include honey, mushrooms, psychoactive and other herbal plants.

When the ritual of somayajna is held today in South India by the traditional Srautas called Somayajis, the plant used is the somalatha (Sanskrit: soma creeper, Sarcostemma acidum) which is procured as a leafless vine.

Since the late 18th century, when Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron and others made portions of the Avesta available to western scholars, several scholars have sought a representative botanical equivalent of the haoma as described in the texts and as used in living Zoroastrian practice. In the late 19th century, the highly conservative Zoroastrians of Yazd (Iran) were found to use ephedra, which was locally known as hum or homa and which they exported to the Indian Zoroastrians.

During the colonial British era scholarship, cannabis was proposed as the soma candidate by Jogesh Chandra Ray, The Soma Plant (1939) and by B. L. Mukherjee (1921).

In the late 1960s, several studies attempted to establish soma as a psychoactive substance. A number of proposals were made, including one in 1968 by the American banker R. Gordon Wasson, an amateur ethnomycologist, who asserted that soma was an inebriant but not cannabis, and suggested fly-agaric mushroom, Amanita muscaria, as the likely candidate. Since its introduction in 1968, this theory has gained both detractors and followers in the anthropological literature. Wasson and his co-author, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, drew parallels between Vedic descriptions and reports of Siberian uses of the fly-agaric in shamanic ritual.

In 1989 Harry Falk noted that, in the texts, both haoma and soma were said to enhance alertness and awareness, did not coincide with the consciousness altering effects of an entheogen, and that "there is nothing shamanistic or visionary either in early Vedic or in Old Iranian texts", Falk also asserted that the three varieties of ephedra that yield ephedrine (Ephedra gerardiana, E. major procera and E. intermedia) also have the properties attributed to haoma by the texts of the Avesta. At the conclusion of the 1999 Haoma-Soma workshop in Leiden, Jan E. M. Houben writes: "despite strong attempts to do away with ephedra by those who are eager to see sauma as a hallucinogen, its status as a serious candidate for the Rigvedic Soma and Avestan Haoma still stands".

The Soviet archeologist Viktor Sarianidi wrote that he had discovered vessels and mortars used to prepare soma in Zoroastrian temples in the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex. He said that the vessels have revealed residues and seed impressions left behind during the preparation of soma. This has not been sustained by subsequent investigations. Alternatively Mark Merlin, who revisited the subject of the identity of soma more than thirty years after originally writing about it stated that there is a need of further study on links between soma and Papaver somniferum.

According to Michael Wood, the references to immortality and light are characteristics of an entheogenic experience.

See also

Notes

  1. See Kuzʹmina (2007), The Origin of the Indo-Iranians, p. 339, for an overview of publications up to 1997 on this subject.
  2. trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā
    yajñair iṣhṭvā svar-gatiṁ prārthayante
    te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam
    aśhnanti divyān divi deva-bhogān

References

  1. Monier Williams (1899), A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, Oxford, the Clarendon Press, OCLC 458052227, page 1249.
  2. soma. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  3. Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, p.43
  4. "Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God". www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org. Translated by Mukundananda. Jagadguru Kripaluji Yog. Chapter 9, Verse 20. ASIN B0747RJJNG. OL 28015595M. Wikidata Q108659922.
  5. Toorn, Karel van der; Becking, Bob; Horst, Pieter Willem van der (1999). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-8028-2491-2. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  6. Guénon, René (2004). Symbols of Sacred Science. Sophia Perennis. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-900588-77-8. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  7. Victor Sarianidi, Viktor Sarianidi in The PBS Documentary The Story of India
  8. ^ Singh, N. P. (1988). Flora of Eastern Karnataka, Volume 1. Mittal Publications. p. 416. ISBN 9788170990673.
  9. Monier Monier-Williams (1872). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press (Reprint: 2001). pp. 1136–1137.
  10. K.F.Geldner, Der Rig-Veda. Cambridge MA, 1951, Vol. III: 1-9
  11. ^ Beckwith 2011, p. 32. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBeckwith2011 (help)
  12. ^ Anthony 2007, pp. 454–455.
  13. M. Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, Heidelberg 1986–2000, vol II: 748
  14. Kuz'mina 2007, p. 319.
  15. Singh 2008, p. 185.
  16. Heesterman 2005, pp. 9552–9553.
  17. Anthony 2007.
  18. Roger D. Woodard (18 August 2006). Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. University of Illinois Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-252-09295-4.
  19. Kus'mina 2007, p. 319. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKus'mina2007 (help)
  20. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 462.
  21. Anthony 2007, p. 454.
  22. Stephanie Jamison (2015). The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-0190633394.
  23. "UT College of Liberal Arts: UT College of Liberal Arts". Liberalarts.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  24. Stephanie Jamison (2015). The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. p. 1129. ISBN 978-0190633394.
  25. Stevenson, Jay (2000). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eastern Philosophy. Indianapolis: Alpha Books. p. 46. ISBN 9780028638201.
  26. Bhagavad Gita on Indra Ch 10 verse 22
  27. Williamson, Lola (January 2010). Transcendent in America. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814794708. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  28. Hendel v World Plan Executive Council, 124 WLR 957 (January 2, 1996); affd 705 A.2d 656, 667 (DC, 1997)
  29. Oldenberg, Hermann (1988). The Religion of the Veda. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 978-81-208-0392-3.
  30. Aitchison, 1888
  31. Ray, Jogesh, Chandra, Soma Plant, Indian Historical Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 2, June, 1939, Calcutta
  32. Mukherjee, B. L., The Soma Plant, JRAS, (1921), Idem, The Soma Plant, Calcutta, (1922), The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1921)
  33. Furst, Peter T. (1976). Hallucinogens and Culture. Chandler & Sharp. pp. 96–108. ISBN 0-88316-517-1.
  34. John Brough (1971). "Soma and "Amanita muscaria"". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 34 (2): 331–362. doi:10.1017/S0041977X0012957X. JSTOR 612695. S2CID 84458441.
  35. Feeney, Kevin (2020). "Fly Agaric: A Compendium of History, Pharmacology, Mythology, & Exploration". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  36. (Wasson, Robert Gordon (1968). "Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality". Ethno-Mycological Studies. 1. New York. ISBN 0-15-683800-1.)
  37. Falk, 1989, p 87
  38. Houben, 2003
  39. C.C. Bakels (2003). "Report concerning the contents of a ceramic vessel found in the "white room" of the Gonur Temenos, Merv Oasis, Turkmenistan". EJVS. 9. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  40. Merlin, Mark, Man and Marijuana, (Barnes and Co, 1972)
  41. Merlin, M., Archaeological Record for Ancient Old World Use of Psychoactive Plants, Economic Botany, 57(3): (2008)
  42. Michael Wood, The Story of India.

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