The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s3.1

v1.c19.s3.1

The references to the worship of the tree and the plants are very scanty in the Vedic ritual and mythology alike, but they are quite adequate to show that as among all other peoples these objects were not without their share of reverence.⁴ A long hymn in the last book of the Rigveda⁵ is devoted to the deification of the plants with special reference to their healing properties, and plants also appear in the Atharvaveda,⁶ where they are used in spells for healing, and for driving away demons of all kinds : the plant is even besought to bestow a horse, a sheep, a garment, and the life of the patient, who doubtless was to be the instrument by which the prayer of the medicine man was to be made good if the spell succeeded in attaining its purpose. In the Rigveda⁷ Soma is already the king of the plants, and they are called mothers and goddesses : the Atharvaveda⁸ poetically describes a plant as a goddess born of the goddess earth. On the other hand plants have power to hinder child-birth, and in that case the offering of an animal victim to them is prescribed by the Taittirīya Saṁhitā⁹ in order to procure their favour.