Soma
Soma (Sanskrit सोम sóma), or Haoma (Avestan), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a Template:Wiki ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Template:Wiki and greater Template:Wiki cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Template:Wiki, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities. In the Avesta, Haoma has the entire Yašt 20 and Yasna 9-11 dedicated to it.
It is described as being prepared by extracting juice from the stalks of a certain plant. In both Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki tradition, the name of the drink and the plant are the same, and the three forming a religious or mythological Template:Wiki.
The Template:Wiki calls the plant "God for Gods" seemingly giving him precedence above Indra and the other Gods (RV 9.42 )
There has been much speculation concerning what is most likely to have been the identity of the original plant. There is no solid consensus on the question, although some Template:Wiki experts outside the Template:Wiki and Avestan religious traditions now seem to favour a Template:Wiki of Ephedra, perhaps Ephedra sinica.
Template:Wiki
Both Soma and the Avestan Haoma are derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-. The name of the Scythian tribe Hauma-varga is related to the word, and probably connected with the ritual. The word is derived from an Indo-Iranian root *sav- (Sanskrit sav-/su) "to press", i.e. *sau-ma- is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant. The root is Template:Wiki (*sew(h)-)
Template:Wiki Soma
In the Vedas, the drink, and the plant refer to the same entity. Drinking Soma produces immortality (Amrita, Template:Wiki 8.48.3). Indra and Agni are portrayed as consuming Soma in copious quantities. The consumption of Soma by human beings is well attested in Template:Wiki ritual.
The Template:Wiki (8.48.3, tr. Griffith) states,
a ápāma sómam amŕtā abhūmâganma jyótir ávidāma devân
c kíṃ nūnám asmân kṛṇavad árātiḥ kím u dhūrtír amṛta 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, Template:Wiki man's deception?
The Template:Wiki (8.48.3, tr. Swami Dayanand Saraswati) states,
a ápāma sómam amŕtā abhūmâganma jyótir ávidāma devân
c kíṃ nūnám asmân kṛṇavad árātiḥ kím u dhūrtír amṛta mártyasya
Som (good fruit containing Food not any intoxicating drink) apama (we drink you)
amŕtā abhūmâ (you are elixir of Life) jyótir âganma (achieve physical strength or Light of God)
ávidāma devân (achieve control over senses);
kíṃ nūnám asmân kṛṇavad árātiḥ (in this situation, what our internal enemy can do to me)
kím u dhūrtír amṛta mártyasya (God, what even violent people can do to me)
The Ninth Mandala of the Template:Wiki 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 Gandharvas. The Template:Wiki associates the Sushoma, Arjikiya and other regions with Soma (e.g. 8.7.29; 8.64.10-11). Sharyanavat was possibly the name of a pond or lake on the banks of which Soma could be found. It is described as "green-tinted" and "bright-shining" in the RigVeda. (R.V., 9.42.1 and 9.61.17)
The plant is often described as growing in the mountains (giristha, cf. Orestes), notably Mount Mūjavant. It has long stalks, and is of yellow or tawny (hari) Template:Wiki. The drink is prepared by Template:Wiki pounding the plants with stones. The juice so gathered is filtered through lamb's wool, and mixed with other ingredients (including Template:Wiki milk) before it is drunk. It is said to "roar". It is said to be the bringer of the gods.
Later, Knowledge of the ingredient was lost altogether, and Indian ritual reflects this, in expiatory prayers apologizing to the gods for the use of a substitute plant (somalataa, e.g. the pūtīka) because Soma had become unavailable. In the Template:Wiki ritual Agnistoma (or Somayaga), Soma is to be presented as the main Offering. The substitution of one element in a Template:Wiki for another was in Harmony with an underlying principle of Template:Wiki ritual - the victim is a substitute for the sacrificer. The texts provide an extensive list of plants that can be used as substitutes and end the list by saying that any plant is acceptable, provided it is yellow.
Traditional accounts
The ritual of Somayajna is still held with unbroken continuity in Template:Wiki. The Somalatha (Sanskrit: Soma creeper) which is procured in small quantities from the Himalayan region is used to prepare Soma rasam or Soma juice. It is also used in these areas in Ayurveda and Siddha medicine streams since time immemorial. The herb which is used is Sarcostemma acidum.
Avestan Haoma
The finishing of Haoma in Template:Wiki may be glimpsed from the Avesta (particularly in the Hōm Yast, Yasna 9), and Avestan Language *hauma also survived as middle Template:Wiki hōm. The plant Haoma yielded the essential ingredient for the ritual drink, parahaoma. It is to be noted here that the Template:Wiki used the phonetic "Ha" instead of "Sa" in their Language. For example they called river Sarasvati, Haravati; River Sindhu is called Hindu ( some believe this is the root of the Hindu nomenclature), and here we see them call Soma - Haoma.
In the Hōm yašt of the Avesta, the Yazata (divine) Haoma appears to Template:Wiki "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" (ašavan-), "furthering righteousness" (aša-vazah-), and "of good Wisdom" (hu.xratu-, Sanskrit sukratu-).
In Yasna 9.22, Haoma grants "Template:Wiki and strength to Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki 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 Template:Wiki 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. Haoma services were celebrated at least until the 1960s and 1970s in a strongly conservative village near Yazd.
But the Avesta also warns of Template:Wiki. He distinguishes between the currently used drug-like Haoma, including Opium, and the real Divine Haoma.
Candidates for the Soma plant
Main article: Botanical identity of Soma-Haoma
There has been much speculation as to the original Proto-Indo-Iranian Sauma plant. It was generally assumed to be Template:Wiki, based on RV 8.48 cited above (we have attained the Light). Many descriptions of Soma are associated with excitation. Soma is associated with the warrior-God Indra, and has been drunk by him before his Template:Wiki with Vṛtra. For these reasons, there are stimulant (amphetamine like) plants as well as Template:Wiki plants among the candidates that have been suggested. Soma is also often associated with Light and Indra is the "Lord of Light" as shown in the following verses from the RgVeda: RV 8.82.25 For thee, O Lord of Light, are shed these Soma-drops, and grass is strewn. Bring Indra to his worshippers. May Indra give thee skill, and lights of Heaven, Wealth to his votary. And Template:Wiki who praise him: laud ye him.
There are several references in the RgVeda, associating Soma with the visionary seeing of Light e.g. RV 9.4, RV 9.5, RV 9.8, RV 9.10, RV 9.42.
Candidates that have been suggested include Honey, and fly agaric (Template:Wiki), which was widely used among Template:Wiki Template:Wiki for its Template:Wiki properties. Several texts like the Template:Wiki extol the Template:Wiki properties of Soma and he is regarded as the king of Template:Wiki herbs (and also of the Brahmana class).
From the late 1960s onwards, several studies attempted to establish soma as a Template:Wiki substance. A number of proposals were made, including one in 1968 by the American banker Template:Wiki, an amateur ethnomycologist, who asserted that soma was an inebriant, and suggested fly-agaric mushroom, Template:Wiki, as the likely candidate. Since its introduction in 1968, this Template:Wiki has gained both detractors and followers in the anthropological Template:Wiki.
Wasson and his co-author, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, drew parallels between Template:Wiki descriptions and reports of Template:Wiki uses of the fly-agaric in Template:Wiki ritual.
Since the late 18th century, when Abraham Hyacinthe Template:Wiki and others made portions of the Avesta available to Template:Wiki scholars, several scholars have sought a representative botanical Template:Wiki of the haoma as described in the texts and as used in living Template:Wiki practice. In the late 19th century, the highly conservative Zoroastrians of Yazd (Template:Wiki) were found to use Ephedra (genus Ephedra), which was locally known as hum or homa and which they exported to the Indian Zoroastrians. There are numerous mountain regions in the northwestern Indian subcontinent which have cool and dry conditions where ephedra plants can grow. Later Template:Wiki texts mention that the best soma plants came from Mount Mūjavant, which may be located as in northern Kashmir and in neighboring Template:Wiki Tibet. (Ephedra is not, however, used in any type of sacrificial activity by Hindu Template:Wiki today, nor is it actively cultivated in the open trade economies of Template:Wiki.)
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 Template:Wiki, and that "there is nothing Template:Wiki or visionary either in early Template:Wiki or in Old Template:Wiki texts", (Falk, 1989) Falk made a crucial error is assuming that ephedra reacts like ephedrine; ephedra is less like Template:Wiki and more a potent bronchodilator. Falk also asserted that the three varieties of ephedra that yield ephedrine (geradiana, major procera and 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 Template:Wiki as a serious candidate for the Template:Wiki Soma and Avestan Haoma still stands" (Houben, 2003).
The Graeco-Russian archeologist Viktor Sarianidi claims to have discovered vessels and mortars used to prepare Soma in 'Template:Wiki temples' in Template:Wiki. He claims that the vessels have revealed residues and seed impressions left behind during the preparation of Soma. This has not been sustained by subsequent investigations Besides the residue of ephedra, the Template:Wiki discovered the residues of Poppy seeds and Cannabis. The vessels also had impressions created by Cannabis seeds. Cannabis is well known in India as Bhang and sometimes Poppy seeds are used with Bhang to make the ritual drink Bhang Ki Thandai.
In his book Food of the Gods, ethnobotanist Terence McKenna postulates that the most likely candidate for Soma is the mushroom Template:Wiki, a Template:Wiki mushroom that grows in cow dung in certain climates. In India, Wasson identified Template:Wiki cubenis as "easily identified and gathered, and are effective", and went so far as to hypothesize, "the possible role of Stropharia cubensis growing in the dung of cattle in the lives of the lower orders remains to this day wholly unexplored. Is P. cubensis responsible for the elevation of the Template:Wiki to a sacred Template:Wiki?" McKenna cites both Wasson's and his own unsuccessful attempts using Template:Wiki to reach a Template:Wiki state as evidence that it could not have inspired the Template:Wiki and praise of Soma. McKenna further points out that the 9th Mandala of the Template:Wiki makes extensive references to the Template:Wiki as the embodiment of soma. He draws comparison to other cultures who venerate the source of the Template:Wiki state such as the Chavin in Meso-America who venerate the cactus as the source of Template:Wiki.
In his 2005 book Amanita Muscaria; Herb of Immortality Donald E. Teeter has expanded upon Wasson's work and extends Soma to include other Template:Wiki ritual foods and drink. These include: Haoma, Ambrosia, Nectar the Wine of Template:Wiki, the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki Host, and communion wine, among others.
Teeter also proposes and experimentally tests a Template:Wiki for the reported uses and Template:Wiki associated with these rituals, as well as accounting for the Template:Wiki of the Template:Wiki and similar bountiful religious Template:Wiki mentioned in historical references.
Teeter records success with his use of Template:Wiki and his experiments to duplicate the described occurrences surrounding the production, use and effects described for Soma and the Grail.
In Hindu Art, the God Soma was depicted as a bull or bird, and sometimes as an embryo, but rarely as an adult human. In Hinduism, the God Soma evolved into a Template:Wiki deity. Full moon is the time to collect and press the divine drink. The moon is also the cup from which the gods drink Soma, thus identifying Soma with the moon God Chandra. A waxing moon meant Soma was recreating himself, ready to be drunk again. Alternatively, Soma's twenty-seven wives were the Template:Wiki goddesses, the Nakshatras - daughters of the cosmic progenitor Daksha - who told their father that he paid too much attention to just one of them, Rohini. Daksha subsequently cursed Soma 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. Monday is called Somavāram in Sanskrit and Template:Wiki Indian languages, such as Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Kannada, Marathi and Template:Wiki, and alludes to the importance of this God in Hindu spirituality.
The Sushruta Samhita localizes the best Soma in the upper Template:Wiki and Kashmir region.
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi Program involves a notion of "Soma", allegedly based on the Template:Wiki.
Template:Wiki Template:Wiki
In Template:Wiki artistic and Template:Wiki depictions, Soma often refers to some Form of intoxicating Template:Wiki.
Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki
In the 19th century, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem called The Brewing of Soma. The last part speaks of how Christians should draw near to God without such things as soma. This part of the poem has been made into a well-known hymn, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.
In the Books Junkie and Naked Lunch, author William S. Burroughs refers to soma as a non-addictive, high-quality Form of opium said to exist in Template:Wiki India.
In Neil Gaiman's Template:Wiki American Gods, soma is referred to as "concentrated prayer", a drink enjoyed by the gods (who feed on people's Template:Wiki), such as Odin.
Soma is the name of a fictional Template:Wiki in Aldous Huxley's 1932 Template:Wiki, Brave New World. In the Template:Wiki the government rations the Template:Wiki to citizens to maintain control, it produces both intoxicating and Template:Wiki properties and is used in religious services. It is described as "All of the benefits of Template:Wiki and Alcohol without their defects." Another Template:Wiki derived from mountain growing Template:Wiki is featured in his 1962 Template:Wiki, Island (Template:Wiki), it is used in a Hindu-based religious Template:Wiki worshipping the God Shiva. Called moksha medicine it is portrayed in a positive Light, as a key to Enlightenment.