The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s5.46

v1.c27.s5.46

Oldenberg¹ is inclined to suggest that the plant was never very popular: that it really took the place of the old Indo-European mead,² and that therefore it was traditionally the subject of sacred use and appreciation without having any very real claim to pleasantness of character. It is possible that this was so, but it is not very natural, and it seems more reasonable to suppose that the mead of the older period was fully replaced by a really pleasant drink. The term Madhu, which is properly honey, is applied to it in the Rigveda, though not in the Avesta: the origin of the use is uncertain: it is especially connected in the mythology with the Açvins, and in point of fact it seems to have been originally offered to them in the Dadhigharma offering, though in the ritual as recorded the offering is practically confined to milk.³ It is possible, therefore, that in point of fact honey as well as milk might be mixed with the Soma, though it is also true that the term 'honey' in the Veda is applied in the most promiscuous way as to the milk or butter of the cow, or to the waters of the rain. On the whole, however, we are hardly entitled to doubt that the drink was originally a really pleasant one: in the course of time the long distance from which the shoots had to be brought may easily have made it less attractive, as it certainly encouraged the use of various substitutes described in the ritual text-books.