Soma, an Enigmatic, Mysterious Plant of the Vedic Āryas: An Appraisal

Abstract

Soma plant has been a mystery since a long time. A number of plants were proposed as Soma in the past by various authorities. Wasson (1968) proposed and claimed with a specific approach that Amanita muscaria, a mushroom was the Soma of the gveda. The juice of it was used as Soma drink. The Vedic Āryas (earlier called 'Vedic Āryans'), were the composer of gveda. They used to compose hymns (mantras) to record their day to day experiences, their cultural life and adoration of their deities including Soma. It is speculated, when, Soma became rare and was difficult to find, then Śyena, the Falcon (a kind of bird) was used to collect and bring to their masters and it is well recorded in the gvedic hymns. Perhaps, Wasson did not give any importance to this fact, which actually well supports his findings.Nothing is known about the origin or migration of Vedic Āryas. They used ephedra, cannabis and poppy in preparation of Soma drink and is supported by an archaeological finding by Sarianidi, in 2003 AD. Sarianidi called the Vedic Āryas as Zorastrians settled in Bactria and India. It is not certain what ingredients were used to prepare the Soma drink. In India, when they were in the mountainous region of Afghanistan and Kashmir, they used ephedra, which was plentifully available for preparation of Soma drink. With their work as they migrated in the Indian plains eastwards and southwards they had to use other locally growing plants as substitute or surrogates like: Sarcostemma spp., Ceropegia spp., Periploca aphylla, etc. because ephedra was not available.The paper deals with the story as to how Wasson came to the conclusion that Amanita muscaria is the Soma of the gveda and the plants used as Soma in different periods of time with the movements of the Vedic Āryas. Lastly, the present status of Soma in Indian religion & culture is briefly discussed, where it is worshipped and only mentioned in the hand books of daily worship used by the Hindu brāhmins (priests).

Un acercamiento al soma en los textos del R̥gveda

“…la nota 8 arriba-, Falk (1989), Parpola (1995: 370-372) y Nyberg (1995, 393-401). Dejando aparte propuestas como la de Lehmann (2000), que identifica -sin apenas apoyo textual-el soma con colmenas de abejas, hay buenos estudios recientes que incluyen por lo general críticas fundamentadas a la bibliografía previa; véanse, por ejemplo, Stuhrmann (1985), Oberlies (1998, 165-167), Houben (2003, Stuhrmann (2006), Staal (2009: 84-86) -un interesante estado de la cuestión-y Shah (2015).…”

Kuṣṭha, Saussurea costus (Saussurea lappa): Its Unexplored History from the Atharvaveda

“…When they moved to Gonur Tape, in the south-west Karakum desert in Turkmenistan by the side of Murghab river near about 2500 bce, they used a potion of ephedra, cannabis, and poppy (Sarianidi 2003; Shah 2015, pp. [28][29]. However, when they reached India they used only Ephedra sp.…”