The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s8.18

v2.c30.s8.18

In some places it is clear enough that the Soma sacrifice was considered as a rain spell:² the pressing of the juice from the plant, and the pouring of the water and the juice through the sieve, are sufficient in themselves to import a rain spell of the normal Vedic type, and there can be no doubt that this view explains the fact that Soma is often regarded as a rain bringer, though doubtless in part that idea may be merely an extension of the practice of applying to any great god all the powers, which are important to man. But to go so far as to suggest, as Hillebrandt³ does, that the essence of the sacrifice was a piece of magic, the moon’s rays being full of nectar and being represented by the shoots of the Soma plant, so that the manipulations of the priests are adequate to supply the gods with the nectar drink which they love, is to misunderstand the nature of the sacrifice completely, and further the whole idea is vitiated by the assumption which the author has never proved nor even made plausible that Soma in the Rigveda is the moon. Nor, as we have seen, is there any real possibility of proving that the Soma offering has any totemistic flavour: it can be shown to be nothing but the offering to the god of the intoxicating drink, which in itself, on the other hand, creates the conception of the god Soma, who later and only among the Brahmans in the first instance is by the exercise of creative fancy equated with the moon.¹