Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t7.4

c5.s2.t7.4

The waters are several times associated with honey. As mothers they mix their milk with honey (1, 23¹⁶). The wave of the waters is rich in honey; dripping with ghee it became the drink of Indra, whom it exhilerated (7, 47¹· ²). Apām napāt is besought to give waters rich in honey, by which Indra grew to heroic strength (10, 30⁴). The waters are invoked to pour the wave, rich in honey and gladdening the gods, for Indra who released them from confinement; the wave which intoxicates, the draught of Indra, which is produced in the sky (10, 30^{7-9}). These passages appear to show that sometimes at least the celestial waters were regarded as containing or identical with the heavenly Soma, the beverage of Indra. In other passages the waters used in preparing the terrestrial Soma seem to be meant. When they appear bearing ghee, milk, and honey, they are accordant with the priests, bearing well-pressed Soma for Indra (10, 30^). Soma delights in them as a young man in lovely maidens; he approaches them as a lover; they are maidens who bow down before the youth (10, 30^{5-6}).