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In the
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
tradition, ''sóma'' (
Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
: सोम) is a ritual drink of importance among the early Vedic Indo-Aryans. The
Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...
mentions it, particularly in the Soma Mandala. Gita mentions the drink in Chapter 9. It is equivalent to the Iranian
haoma ''Haoma'' (; Avestan: 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀) is a divine plant in Zoroastrianism and in later Persian culture and mythology. ''Haoma'' has its origins in Indo-Iranian religion and is the cognate of Vedic ''soma''. Etymology Both Avestan ''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 The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subco ...
and
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
, the name of the drink and the plant are not exactly the same.Victor Sarianidi, Viktor Sarianidi in The PBS Documentary The Story of India There has been much speculation about the most likely identity of the original plant. Traditional Indian accounts, such as those from practitioners of
Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
, Siddha medicine, and Somayajna called Somayajis, identify the plant as "Somalata" (''
Sarcostemma acidum ''Cynanchum acidum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, typically found in the arid parts of peninsular India where it is used in religious sacrifices. The plant is religiously linked to Hinduism and is believed to be a ...
''). Non-Indian researchers have proposed candidates including the fly agaric, ''
Amanita muscaria ''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete of the genus ''Amanita''. It is also a muscimol mushroom. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, ''Amanita muscar ...
;'' Psilocybin mushrooms, '' Psilocybe cubensis;'' wild or Syrian rue, '' Peganum harmala;'' and ma huang, ''
Ephedra sinica ''Ephedra sinica'' (also known as Chinese ephedra or Ma Huang) is a species of '' Ephedra'' native to Mongolia, Russia (Buryatiya, Chita, Primorye), and northeastern China ( Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongo ...
''.


Etymology

Soma is a Vedic Sanskrit word that literally means "distill, extract, sprinkle", often connected in the context of rituals. Soma's
Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
cognate is the ''
haoma ''Haoma'' (; Avestan: 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀) is a divine plant in Zoroastrianism and in later Persian culture and mythology. ''Haoma'' has its origins in Indo-Iranian religion and is the cognate of Vedic ''soma''. Etymology Both Avestan ''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 Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
origin from the root *.


Origins

The Vedic religion was the religion of some of the Vedic Indo-Aryan tribes, the ', 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 The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
family, which originated in the Sintashta culture and further developed into the
Andronovo culture The Andronovo culture (russian: Андроновская культура, translit=Andronovskaya kul'tura) is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished  2000–1450 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo ...
, which in turn developed out of the
Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...
culture of the
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
n
steppes In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grassland ...
. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised
Proto-Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested ...
, and show relations with rituals from the
Andronovo culture The Andronovo culture (russian: Андроновская культура, translit=Andronovskaya kul'tura) is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished  2000–1450 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo ...
, 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 Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
) 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 Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.  volumes/ref> I ...
and the ritual drink Soma. According to Anthony,


Vedic soma

In the
Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
, the same word (soma) is used for the drink, the plant, and its deity. Drinking ''soma'' produces immortality (''Amrita'', Rigveda 8.48.3).
Indra Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.  volumes/ref> I ...
and
Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hi ...
are portrayed as consuming soma in copious quantities. In the vedic ideology, Indra drank large amounts of soma while fighting the serpent demon
Vritra Vritra () is a danava in Hinduism. He serves as the personification of drought, and is an adversary of the king of the devas, Indra. As a danava, he belongs to the race of the asuras. Vritra is also known in the Vedas as Ahi (Sanskrit: ', lit ...
. 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 The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...
'' (8.48.3) says: Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton translates this as: Swami Dayanand Saraswati explains this as: Also, consider
Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...
(8.79.2-6) regarding the power of Soma: "...He covers the naked and heals all who are sick. The blind man sees; the lame man steps forth....Let those who seek find what they seek: let them receive the treasure....Let him find what was lost before; let him push forward the man of truth...." Such is indicative of an experience with an entheogen of some source...( Michael Wood (historian)).('' The Story of India'')


Avestan haoma

The finishing of ''haoma'' in
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
may be glimpsed from the
Avesta The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the lit ...
(particularly in the ''Hōm Yast'', Yasna 9), and
Avestan language Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
''*hauma'' also survived as
Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...
''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 Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the ''Yasna'' ...
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 In Zoroastrianism, the Amesha Spenta ( ae, , Aməša Spəṇta—literally "Immortal (which is) holy/bounteous/furthering") are a class of seven divine entities emanating from Ahura Mazda, the highest divinity of the religion. Later Middle Persia ...
.


Post-Vedic mentions

Soma has been mentioned in Chapter 9, verse 20 of
Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...
: The
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918
's Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi Program involves a notion of "soma", said to be based on the Rigveda.


Candidates for the plant

There has been much speculation as to the original ''Sauma'' plant. Candidates that have been suggested include
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
, 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 ''Cynanchum acidum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, typically found in the arid parts of peninsular India where it is used in religious sacrifices. The plant is religiously linked to Hinduism and is believed to be a ...
'') which is procured as a leafless
vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...
. Since the late 18th century, when
Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (7 December 173117 January 1805) was the first professional French Indologist. He conceived the institutional framework for the new profession. He inspired the founding of the École française d'Extrême-Orien ...
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 Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Wor ...
(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 psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. Th ...
. A number of proposals were made, including one in 1968 by the American banker R. Gordon Wasson, an amateur
ethnomycologist Ethnomycology is the study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi and can be considered a subfield of ethnobotany or ethnobiology. Although in theory the term includes fungi used for such purposes as tinder, medicine (medicinal mu ...
, who asserted that ''soma'' was an inebriant but not cannabis, and suggested fly-agaric mushroom, ''
Amanita muscaria ''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete of the genus ''Amanita''. It is also a muscimol mushroom. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, ''Amanita muscar ...
'', 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 Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; ' ...
, drew parallels between Vedic descriptions and reports of Siberian uses of the fly-agaric in
shamanic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
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 Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoac ...
, and that "there is nothing shamanistic or visionary either in early Vedic or in Old Iranian texts", (Falk, 1989) Falk also asserted that the three varieties of ephedra that yield ephedrine (''
Ephedra gerardiana ''Ephedra gerardiana'' (Gerard's jointfir, 山岭麻黄 ''shan ling ma huang'') is a species of '' Ephedra'', endemic to the mountains of Afghanistan, Bhutan, northern India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim, Tajikistan, and Tibet. It is a perennial ...
'', ''E. major procera'' and '' E. intermedia'') also have the properties attributed to ''haoma'' by the texts of the Avesta. (Falk, 1989) 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" (Houben, 2003). 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 The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (short BMAC) or Oxus Civilization, recently dated to c. 2250–1700 BC,Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020b)"Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Cultu ...
. 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 ''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable orname ...
''. (Merlin, 2008). In his book ''Food of the Gods'', ethnobotanist Terence McKenna postulates that the most likely candidate for soma is the mushroom '' Psilocybe cubensis'', a hallucinogenic mushroom that grows in cow dung in certain climates. McKenna cites both Wasson's and his own unsuccessful attempts using ''
Amanita muscaria ''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete of the genus ''Amanita''. It is also a muscimol mushroom. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, ''Amanita muscar ...
'' to reach a psychedelic state as evidence that it could not have inspired the worship and praise of soma. McKenna further points out that the 9th mandala of the Rig Veda makes extensive references to the cow as the embodiment of soma. According to Michael Wood, the references to immortality and light are characteristics of an
entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoac ...
ic experience.Michael Wood, The Story of India.


See also

*
Haoma ''Haoma'' (; Avestan: 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀) is a divine plant in Zoroastrianism and in later Persian culture and mythology. ''Haoma'' has its origins in Indo-Iranian religion and is the cognate of Vedic ''soma''. Etymology Both Avestan ''haoma'' ...
- an equivalent divine plant in
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
*
Mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characte ...
*
Sima (mead) Sima is a Finnish fermented low level alcoholic drink and soft drink. It is traditionally a form of mead, an alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water, although nowadays the honey is usually replaced with diff ...
* Soma drug - carisoprodol


Notes


References


Sources

* *Bakels, C.C. 2003
“The contents of ceramic vessels in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, Turkmenistan.”
in ''Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies'', Vol. 9. Issue 1c (May 2003) * * *Jay, Mike. ''Blue Tide: The Search for Soma''. Autonomedia, 1999. * *Lamborn Wilson, Peter. ''Ploughing the clouds:The search for Irish Soma'', City Lights,1999. *McDonald, A. "A botanical perspective on the identity of soma (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) based on scriptural and iconographic records" in ''Economic Botany'' 2004;58 * {{Rigveda, state=collapsed Entheogens Herbal and fungal hallucinogens Historical drinks Libation Mythological food and drink