The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c8.114

c8.114

And now, the sacrificial substance which, when freely given to the gods, secures to mortals the golden age of the Avesta and the paradise of the Veda is the old Indo-Iranian drink, Vedic *soma*, Avestan *haoma*. It is an accepted fact with each people that this drink was prepared from a plant of the same name; that it was an intoxicating drink; and that it was regarded as the tipple of the gods, inspiring them to those valorous deeds which men craved of them. Physically, it is a plant that grows upon the mountains, has green shoots, and yields a golden fluid which insures health and long life and averts death. No wonder that Haoma-Soma is king of the plants, and that the pressing and offering of it was an important act. After pressing it was purified through a sieve of hair and mixed with milk—doubtless the earliest milk-punch on record. The Rig-Veda and the Avesta report the names of the same ancient worthies that prepared the fluid for the gods: Vedic Vivasvant, Yama, and Trita Āptya; Avestan Vīvanhvant, Yima, Āthwya and Thrita. This marks the most intimate, if not the most important, relation between the two religious literatures.