History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.132.2

v7.c92.132.2

This looks like special pleading and is misleading. The question is: was *surā* offered to the gods in every day or periodic sacrifices as an offering in the Ṛgveda or any other Veda. In the Vedic age wine may have been known and even drunk, but what is material to recognize is that there is a difference made between Soma and *surā*. Vide Śat.¹⁷⁴⁹ Br. "Soma is truth, prosperity, light and *surā* is untruth, misery and darkness" (V. 1. 5. 28). While Soma is mentioned hundreds of times in the Ṛgveda, has the 9th maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda specially reserved for its praises and was offered to gods, the word *surā* occurs only six times in the Ṛgveda and it is nowhere expressly stated that it was offered to any god as a religious offering; on the contrary, in a hymn to Varuṇa, *surā* is put forward as leading to the commission of sin just as anger and gambling do (Ṛg. VII. 86. 6 'na sa svo dakṣo Varuṇa dhrutiḥ sā surā manyur-vibhīdako acittiḥ). In his zeal for the vindication of Tāntrism Arthur Avalon is injudicious enough to misinterpret simple words. In the Intro. to 'Principles of Tantra' p. VII he quotes Ṛg. I. 166. 7 "*arcantyarkam madirasya pītaye*" and translates "*worshipping the Sun before drinking madirā (wine)*." The word here is *madira* (and not '*madirā*'), it is an adjective and means "*exhilarating*".