The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c18.s3.15

v1.c18.s3.15

The dualism in the character of Soma appears in the two quite different accounts of his birth, in heaven and on the mountains. The mountain birth of Soma is made more precise by the epithet Maujavata, which seems to point to mount Muñjavant, and the Avesta declares that Haoma grows in the mountains. But it is by no means certain that the rock, from which the eagle brought Soma, is to be so taken; it seems rather to refer to the clouds and to point to his celestial form. Of the celestial abode of Soma there is abundant evidence of all kinds: he is the bird in the heaven, his home is in the highest heaven, but the contact with the terrestrial is clear in the fact that Soma going over the filter is also Soma on the summit (*sānu*) of the sky.