The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c26.19

v1.c26.19

In the case of the Soma sacrifice, which in the Rigveda is the most important of all, the parallelism to the later offering is marked. There are clearly three pressings of the Soma, morning, noon, and night, the first and last possibly denoted by the later obsolete terminology Prapitva and Abhipitva.¹ The metres Gāyatrī, Triṣṭubh, and Jagatī are divided as later among the three pressings. The Ṛbhus have as later a place in the evening, Indra and the Maruts in the middle pressing: the morning pressing later seems to have been extended in effect. The Soma was pressed and mixed as later: the terminology here seems to have changed: apparently in the Rigveda it was mixed with water in the Koça, then placed in two similar bowls, the Camūs, and there mixed with milk and afterwards poured into Kalaças for its use at the rite; in the ritual texts the Koça is replaced by the Ādhavanīya or mixing vessel, one of the Camūs became assimilated to it in material, clay, and became the Pūtabhṛt, ‘containing purified Soma,’ the other was called the Droṇakalaça, ‘wooden vessel.’² Grahas in both early and late ritual were used for the offerings to the gods. Even the Pravargya ceremony of the heating of milk in a pot was known,³ and such details as the offering of a cake to Agni Sviṣṭakṛt at the end of the rite.