The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c8.119

c8.119

In the Avesta the *haoma* practices and worship are somewhat fossilised: its use has become secondary and symbolic. In the Veda *soma* figures as the most distinguished offering, the champagne of the gods, which exhilarates them and inspires them to valorous deeds against demons and the enemies of the liberal sacrificer. Herculean Indra especially stands in need of an especial meed of courage in his demon fights; therefore he is the most insatiable consumer of "pools of *soma*," as the texts say. He has his very own allowance at noontide; the rest of the gods, including Indra, come in at the other nodal points of the day, morning and evening. The entire ninth book of the Rig-Veda tells of the sacred practice of brewing this Bacchanalian drink; it praises the drink itself as a god in poetic and ecstatic language. We may remember that the hieratic parts of the Rig-Veda are preoccupied with the dispensal of *soma* to such an extent that, in a sacral sense of least, we may speak of the religion of the *ṛcaḥ* as a religion of *soma* rites.