The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s19.5

v2.c30.s19.5

It is conjectured by Hillebrandt³ that the rite was taken over by the Indians from a non-Brahmanical tribe, and then remodelled on the basis of the Soma ritual: he thinks that the Surā was once a drink akin to the Madhu, and offered to the Açvins. The Açvins are not prominent as Soma-drinkers, but they certainly are connected with the Madhu, and the Surā seems from the evidence of the Avesta to have been once a sacred and honoured drink. The Madhu or Surā cult, he thinks, may have flourished on the banks of the Sarasvatī, where the Vasiṣṭhas show little anxiety about the Soma cult, and may not originally have practised it, but have learned it from later intruders. The hypothesis, however, is not supported by any evidence of value,¹ and there are clear traces that the rite was based on myth, that of the effects on Indra of over-indulgence in Soma and the resulting illness which was cured by the efforts of the Açvins and Sarasvatī, a fact alluded to in the Rigveda.