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Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t4: § 37. Soma

Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t4

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§ 37. Soma

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— Since the Soma sacrifice forms the main feature of the ritual of the RV.¹, the god Soma is naturally one of the most important deities of that Veda. All the 114 hymns of the ninth besides 6 in other books, are dedicated to his praise. He is also celebrated in portions of four or five other hymns, and as a dual divinity with Indra, Agni, Pūṣan, or Rudra, in about six more. The name of Soma, in its simple form and in compounds, occurs hundreds of times in the RV. Judged by the standard of frequency, Soma therefore comes third in order of importance among the Vedic gods. Soma is much less anthropomorphic than Indra or Varuṇa, the constant presence of the plant and its juice setting limits to the imagination of the poets who describe its personification. Consequently little is said of his human form or action. The marvellous and heroic deeds attributed to him are either colourless, because common to almost all the greater gods, or else only secondarily belong to him. Like other gods, he is, under the name of Indu as well as Soma, invoked to come to the sacrifice and receive the offerings on the strewn grass². The ninth book mainly consists of incantations sung over the tangible Soma while it is pressed by the stones, flows through the woolen strainer into the wooden vats, in which it is finally offered on a litter of grass to the gods as a beverage, sometimes in fire (1, 94¹⁴; 5, 5¹; 8, 43¹¹ &c.) or drunk by the priests. The processes to which it is subjected are overlaid with the most varied and chaotic imagery and with mystical fancies often incapable of certain interpretation.

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In order to make intelligible the mythology of Soma, the basis of which are the concrete terrestrial plant and the intoxicating juice extracted therefrom, it is necessary briefly to describe these as well as the treatment they undergo. The part of the Soma plant which is pressed is called *aṃśu*, ‘shoot or stalk’ (9,67²⁸). The shoots swelling give milk like cows with their udders (8, 9¹⁹). As distinguished from the stalk, the whole Soma plant seems to be intended by *ándhas* (8, 32²⁸; 10, 94⁸ &c.), which is said to have come from heaven (9, 61¹⁰) and to have been brought by the eagle (5, 45⁹; 9, 68⁶; 10, 144⁵). The same term is applied to the juice also³ and is distinguished from Indu the god (9, 51³; 10, 115³). The juice is also designated by *soma* (which means the plant as well) and generally by *rasa*, fluid. In one hymn (1, 187) the juice is called *pitu*, the ‘beverage’; and it is often styled *mada*, ‘intoxicating draught’⁴. Soma is occasionally also referred to with *anna*, ‘food’ (7, 98²; 8, 4¹²; ŚB. 1; 6, 4⁵). The term *madhu*, which in connexion with the Aśvins means ‘honey’ or ‘mead’, comes to be applied, in the general sense of ‘sweet draught’, not only to milk (*payas*) and ghee (*ghṛta*), but especially to the Soma juice (4, 27⁵; 8, 69⁶). Mythologically *madhu* is the equivalent of Soma when the latter means the celestial ambrosia (*amṛta*)⁵. Conversely, *amṛta* is frequently used as an equivalent of ordinary Soma (5, 2³; 6, 37³ &c.; VS. 6, 34; ŚB. 9, 5, 1⁸)⁶. King Soma when pressed is *amṛta* (VS. 19, 72). Another expression is *somyam madhu*, ‘Soma mead’ (4, 26⁵; 6, 20³). Figuratively the Soma juice is called *pīyūṣa* (3, 48² &c.), milk (9, 107¹²), the wave of the stalk (9, 96⁸) or the juice of honey (5, 43⁴). The most frequent figurative name applied to Soma is *indu*, the ‘bright drop’, another term of similar meaning, *drapsa*, ‘drop’, being much less common.

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The extraction of the juice is generally described by the root *su*, ‘to press’ (9, 62⁴ &c.), but often also by *duh* ‘to milk’ (3, 36⁶. ⁷ &c.). The juice is intoxicating (1, 125³; 6, 17¹¹. 20⁶) and ‘honied’, *madhumat* (9, 97¹⁴). The latter expression simply means ‘sweet’, but as applied to Soma originally seems to have meant ‘sweetened with honey’, some passages pointing to this admixture (9, 17⁸. 86⁴⁸. 97¹¹. 109²⁰)⁷. As flowing from the press, Soma is compared with the wave of a stream (9, 80⁵) and directly called a wave (9, 64¹¹ &c.) or a wave of honey (3, 47¹). With reference to the juice collected in the vat, Soma is spoken of as a sea (*arṇava*: 10, 115³) and frequently as an ocean (*samudra*: 5, 47³; 9, 64⁸ &c.). The heavenly Soma is also called a well (*utsa*), which is in the highest place of the cows (5, 45⁸), which is placed in the cows and guided with ten reins (i. e. fingers: 6, 44²⁴), or a well of honey in the highest step of Viṣṇu (1, 154⁵).

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The colour of the plant and juice, as well as of the god, is described as brown (*babhru*) or ruddy (*aruṇa*), but most frequently as tawny (*hari*). Thus Soma is the branch of a ruddy tree (10, 94³); it is a ruddy milked shoot (7, 98¹); the tawny shoot is pressed into the strainer (9, 92¹). The colour of the Soma plant or its substitute prescribed in the Brāhmaṇas is ruddy (ŚB. 4, 5, 10¹); and in the ritual the cow which is the price paid in the purchase of Soma, must be brown or ruddy because that is Soma’s colour (TS. 6, 1, 6⁷; ŚB. 3, 3, 1¹⁴)⁸.

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Soma is described as purified with the hands (9, 86³⁴), by the ten fingers (9, 8⁴. 15⁸ &c.), or, figuratively, by the ten maidens who are sisters (9, 1⁷. 65), or by the daughters (*naptī*) of Vivasvat (9, 14⁵). Similarly, the maidens of Trita are said to urge on the tawny one with stones as a drop for Indra to drink (9, 32². 38²). Soma is also spoken of as purified or brought by the daughter of the sun (9, 1⁶. 72³. 113³)⁹. Sometimes it is said to be purified by prayer (9, 96¹³. 113⁵). The priests who press Soma are Adhvaryus¹⁰ (8, 4¹¹).

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The shoot is crushed with a stone (9, 67¹⁹) or pressed with stones (9, 107¹⁰); the plant is pounded to produce the Soma draught (10, 85³). The stones tear its skin (TB. 3, 7, 13¹). The stones lie on a skin; for they ‘chew him on the hide of the cow’ (9, 79⁴). They are placed on the *vedi* or altar (5, 31¹²): a practice differing from that of the later ritual¹¹. They are held with hands or arms (7, 22¹; 9, 79⁴; AV. 11, 1¹⁰). The two arms and the ten fingers yoke the stone (5, 43⁴). Hence the stones are said to be guided by ten reins (10, 94⁸). Being spoken of as yoked, they are compared with horses (10, 94⁶). The usual name for the pressing stones is *adri* (generally used with the verb *su*, to press) or *grāvan* (generally connected with *vad*, to speak, or verbs of cognate meaning, and hence showing a greater tendency to personification¹² than *adri*). Both terms nearly always occur either in the singular or the plural, and not in the dual. The stones are also once respectively called *aśna* (8, 2²), *bharitra* (3, 36⁷), *parvata* (3, 35⁸) and *parvatā adrayaḥ* (10, 94¹). The pressing of Soma by means of stones was the usual method in the period of the RV. But the extraction of the juice by mortar and pestle, which is also sanctioned by the ritual texts, was already known to the RV. (1, 28¹⁻⁴); and as this method is in use among the Parsis, it may go back to the Indo-Iranian age.

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The pressed drops are poured upon (9, 63¹⁰ &c.) and pass over the strainer of sheep's wool (9, 69⁹). For it removes Soma's impurity, so that he goes cleansed to the feast of the gods (9, 78¹). This strainer, which is very frequently mentioned, passes under various names. It is called a skin (*tvac*), hair (*roman*), wool (*vāra*), filter (*pavitra*), or ridge (*sānu*, as the top of the contrivance). All these terms are used with or without an adjective formed from *avi*, sheep. The word *avi* itself is sometimes figuratively employed in this sense. As passing through the strainer Soma is usually called *pavamāna* or *punāna*, 'flowing clear' (from √pu). The more general term *mṛj*, 'to cleanse', is not only applied to the purification of Soma with the strainer, but also to the addition of water and milk (9, 86¹¹. 91²). The purified (unmixed) Soma juice is sometimes called *śuddha*, 'pure', but much oftener *śukra* or *śuci*, 'bright' (8, 2¹⁰; 9, 33²; 1, 5⁵. 30²). This unmixed Soma is offered almost exclusively to Vāyu and Indra, the epithet *śucipā*, 'drinking clear (Soma)' being distinctive of Vāyu (p. 82). This agrees with the later ritual, where, in the Grahas or draughts for dual divinities, clear Soma is offered to Vāyu and Indra-Vāyu, but is mixed with milk for Mitra-Varuṇa, and with honey for the Aśvins¹³.

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After passing the filter, Soma flows into jars (*kalaśa*, 9, 60³ &c.) or vats (*droṇa*)¹⁴. The streams of Soma rush to the forest of the vats like buffaloes (9, 33¹. 92⁶); the god flies like a bird to settle in the vats (9, 3¹); like a bird sitting on a tree, the tawny one settles in the bowls (*camū*: 9, 72⁵). Soma is mixed with water in the vat. United with the wave, the stalk roars (9, 74⁵). Like a bull on the herd, he rushes on the vat, into the lap of the waters, a roaring bull; clothing himself in waters, Indu rushes around the vat, impelled by the singers (9, 76⁵. 107²⁶). The wise milk him into the waters with their hands (9, 79⁴). Having passed over the wool and playing in the wood, he is cleansed by the ten maidens (9, 6⁵). Several other passages refer to the admixture of water with Soma (9, 30⁵. 53⁴. 868.25). The Soma drops are said to spread brightness in the streams (9, 76¹). Besides the verb *mṛj*, 'to cleanse', which is commonly used to express the admixture of water (e. g. 9, 63¹⁷), *ā-dhāv*, 'to wash', is also employed (8, 1¹⁷). In the preparation of Soma, the pressing (√su) comes first, then the mixing with water (7, 32⁶; 8, 1¹⁷. 31⁵; AV. 6, 2¹), just as in the later ritual the *savana*, 'pressure', precedes the *ādhāvana*, 'washing'. In the bowls Soma is mixed with milk (9, 8⁶ &c.)¹⁵, which is said to sweeten it (8,2³)¹⁶. In several passages the addition of both water and milk is mentioned. Thus it is said that Soma clothes himself in waters, that streams of water flow after him, when he desires to clothe himself in cows (i. e. milk: 9, 23.4). They press him with stones, they wash him in water, clothing him as it were in cow-garments, men milk him out of the stalks (8, 1¹⁷; cp. 2, 36¹; 6, 40²; 9, 86²⁴⁻⁵. 96¹⁹).

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Soma is recognised in the RV. as having three kinds of admixture (*tryāśir*: 5, 27⁵), with milk (*gavāśir*), sour milk (*dadhyāśir*), and barley (*yavā-* *śir*). The admixture is figuratively called a garment (*vastra*, *vāsas*, *atka*)¹⁷ or a shining robe (*nirṇij*: 9, 14⁵), the latter term being applied to the strainer also (9, 70⁷). Hence Soma is spoken of as decked with beauty (9, 34⁴ &c.) and as richly adorned (9, 81¹). Mention is also made, though rarely, of mixture with ghee (9, 82²); but neither this addition nor that of water, is a regular *āśir*¹⁸.

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In the ritual there is a ceremony called *āpyāyana* or causing the half-pressed Soma stalks to swell by moistening them with water afresh. The beginnings of it are found in the MS. (4, 5⁵). The verb *ā-pyā*, 'to swell', occurs in the RV. in connexion with Soma (1, 91¹⁶⁻⁸); 10, 85⁵)¹⁹; but here it seems to refer to Soma as identified with the moon. In one other passage, however, (9, 31⁴) it may have a ritual application. Soma is also said in the RV. to swell (*pi*, *pinv*), like a sea or river (9, 64⁸. 107¹²).

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Soma is described in the RV. as pressed three times in the day. Thus the Ṛbhus are invited to the evening pressing (4, 33¹¹ &c.)²⁰, Indra to the midday pressing (3, 32¹· ²; 8, 37¹), which is his alone (4, 36⁷), while the morning libation is his first drink (10, 112¹).

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The abode (*sadhastha*) of Soma is often referred to²¹; once, however, mention is made of three, which he occupies when purified (9, 103²), the epithet *triṣadhastha*, 'having three abodes', being also applied to him in another passage (8, 83⁵). These three abodes may already designate the three tubs used at the Soma sacrifice of the later ritual (TS. 3, 2, 1²; KŚS. 9, 5¹⁷. 7⁴; cp. RV. 8, 2⁸); but BERGAIGNE (BRV, 1, 179) regards them as purely mythological. A similar remark applies to the three lakes of Soma which Indra drinks (5, 29⁷·⁸; 6, 17¹¹; 8, 7¹⁰)²². The epithet *tripṛṣṭha*, 'three-backed', is peculiar to Soma. Being applied to the juice at least once (7, 37¹) it probably refers (as Sāyaṇa thinks) to the three admixtures, much as the Agni's epithet *ghṛtapṛṣṭha* alludes to ghee being thrown on the fire²³.

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Based on the mixture of water with the juice, the connexion of Soma with the waters is expressed in the most varied ways. Streams flow for him (9, 31³). The waters follow his ordinance (9, 82⁵). He flows at the head of streams (9, 86¹²). He is lord and king of streams (9, 15⁵. 86³³. 89²), lord of spouses (9, 86³²), an oceanic (*samudriya*) king and god (9, 107¹⁶). The waters are his sisters (9, 82³). As leader of waters, Soma rules over rain (9, 74³). He produces waters and causes heaven and earth to rain (9, 96³). He streams rains from heaven (9, 8⁸. 49¹. 97¹⁷. 1089·¹⁰). The Soma drops themselves are several times compared with rain (9, 41³. 89¹. 106⁹)²⁴ and Soma is said to flow clearly with a stream of honey like the rain-charged cloud (9, 2⁹). So too the Pavamāna drops are said to have streamed from heaven, from air, on the ridge of earth (9, 63²⁷). There are some other passages in which the soma that is milked appears to refer to rain (8, 7¹⁰; 9, 74⁴, cp. 10, 30⁴)²⁵. The ŚB. (11, 5, 4⁵) identifies the *amṛta* with the waters. This identification may have given rise to the myth of Soma brought down to man by an eagle (p. 111)²⁶. But the celestial Soma descending to earth was doubtless usually regarded as only mixed with rain, and not confounded with it²⁷.

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The waters are invoked to set in motion the exhilerating wave, the draught of Indra, the sky-born well (10, 30⁹). Soma is the drop which grows in the waters (9, 85¹⁰. 89²). Hence he is the embryo of the waters (9, 97⁴¹; ŚB. 4, 4, 5²¹) or their child, for seven sisters as mothers are around the child, the newly born, the Gandharva of the waters (9, 86³⁶; cp. 10, 13⁵), and the waters are directly called his mothers (9, 61⁴). Soma is also spoken of as a youth among the waters or cows (5, 45⁹; 9, 9⁵).

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The sound made by the Soma juice as it is being purified and rushes into the vats or bowls, is often referred to. It is compared with that of rain (9, 41³). But the language is generally hyperbolical. Thus the sweet drop is said to flow over the filter like the din of combatants (9, 69²). The noise is constantly designated by various verbs meaning to roar or bellow (*krand*, *nad*, *mā*, *ru*, *vāś*: 9, 91³. 95⁴ &c.). Even the verb *stan*, 'to thunder', is used (9, 86⁹) and the wise are described as 'milking the thundering unfailing stalk' (9, 72⁶). Lightning also is in some verses connected with the purification of Soma (9, 41³. 80¹. 84³. 87⁸); this in all probability alludes to the purification of the celestial Soma and may have referred to the phenomena of the thunderstorm ²⁸.

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When Soma is said to roar he is commonly compared with or directly called a bull. 'As a bull he bellows in the wood' (9, 7³); 'the tawny bull bellows and shines with the Sun' (9, 2⁶). As the waters, added with or without milk,²⁹ are figuratively called cows, the relation of Soma to them is usually that of a bull to cows. He is a bull among the cows (9, 16⁶. 69⁴. 96⁷) or is lord of the cows (9, 72⁴). He bellows like a bull traversing the cows (9, 71⁹) or like a bull towards the cows (9, 71⁷), the cows also bellowing towards him (9, 80² &c.). He is the bull of heaven as well as of the earth and the streams (6, 44²¹). The impetuosity of Soma is also several times illustrated by comparison with a buffalo (*mahiṣa*). Thus he even comes to be called an animal (*paśu*: 9, 86⁴³). Being a bull among the cow-waters, Soma is the fertilizer of the waters (10, 36⁸, cp. 9, 19⁵). He is also (9, 86³⁹) an impregnator (*retodhā*), an epithet especially applied to the moon in the YV. (e. g. MS. 1, 6⁹). Hence he is a bestower of fertility (9, 60⁴. 74⁵). Soma being so frequently called a bull (*ukṣan*, *vṛṣan*, *vṛṣabha*) is sharp-horned (*tigmaśṛṅga*), an epithet which in five of its six occurrences in the RV. is accompanied by a word meaning 'bull'. Thus the brewed drink (*mantha*) of Indra is like a sharp-horned bull (10, 86¹⁵). Soma is also said (like Agni) to sharpen his horns (9, 15⁴. 70⁷) ³⁰.

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Soma is swift (1, 4⁷) and, in illustration of the speed with which the pressed juice flows, is very often compared with or designated a steed. Thus the ten maidens are said to cleanse him like a swift steed (9, 6⁵). The drop which intoxicates Indra is a tawny steed (9, 63¹⁷). Soma flowing into the vats is sometimes also compared with a bird flying to the wood (9, 72⁵ &c.).

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Owing to the yellow colour of the juice, the physical quality of Soma mainly dwelt on by the poets, is his brilliance. His rays are often referred to and he is frequently assimilated to the sun. He shines like or with the sun or clothes himself in its rays (9, 76⁴. 86³²; cp. 71⁹). He ascends the car of the sun and stands above all beings like the sun ³¹. He fills heaven and earth with rays like the sun (9, 41⁵). When born a bright son, he caused his parents to shine (9, 9³). The daughter of the sun purifies him (9, 1⁶). Thus it comes to be said of him that he combats the darkness (9, 9⁷), wards it off with light (9, 86²²), or creates bright light, dispelling the darkness (9, 66²⁴. 100⁸. 108¹² &c.).

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Its mysteriously exhilerating and invigorating action, surpassing that of ordinary food or drink and prompting to deeds beyond the natural powers, led to Soma being regarded as a divine drink which bestows immortal life. Hence it is mythologically called *amṛta*, the draught of immortality. It is an immortal stimulant (1, 84⁴), which the gods love (9, 85²) and of which, when pressed by men and mixed with milk, all the gods drink (9, 109¹⁵); for they hasten to exhileration (8, 2¹⁸) and become exhilerated (8, 58¹¹). Soma is immortal (1, 43⁹; 8, 48¹²; 9, 3¹ &c.); and the gods drank him for immortality (9, 106⁸). He confers immortality on the gods (1, 91⁶; 9, 108³) and on men (1, 91¹; 8, 48³). He places his worshipper in the everlasting and imperishable world where there is eternal light and glory, and makes him immortal where king Vaivasvata lives (9, 113⁷·⁸)³².

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Thus Soma naturally has medicinal power also. It is medicine for a sick man (8, 61¹⁷). Hence the god Soma heals whatever is sick, making the blind to see and the lame to walk (8, 68²; 10, 25¹¹). He is the guardian of men's bodies and occupies their every limb (8, 48⁹), bestowing length of life in this world (1, 91⁶; 8, 48⁴·⁷; 9, 4⁶. 91⁶). The Soma draught is even said to dispel sin from the heart, to destroy falsehood and to promote truth.

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When imbibed Soma stimulates the voice (6, 47³; 9, 84⁴. 95⁵. 97³²), which he impels as the rower his boat (9, 95²). This is doubtless the reason why Soma is called 'lord of speech' *vācas pati* ³³ (9, 26⁴. 101⁵) or leader of speech, *vāco agriya* or *agre* (9, 7³. 62²⁵⁻⁶. 86¹². 106¹⁰). He is also said to raise his voice from heaven (9, 68⁸). In the Brāhmaṇas *vāc*, 'speech', is described as the price paid by the gods for Soma³⁴. Soma also awakens eager thought (6, 47³). So his worshippers exclaim: 'We have drunk Soma, we have become immortal, we have entered into light, we have known the gods' (8, 48³). Thus he is also spoken of as a lord of thought and as a father, leader, or generator of hymns³⁵. He is a leader of poets, a seer among priests (9, 96⁶). He has the mind of seers, is a maker of seers (9, 96¹⁸) and a protector of prayer (6, 52³). He is the 'soul of sacrifice' (9, 2¹⁰. 6⁸), a priest (*brahmā*) among the gods (9, 96⁶), and apportions to them their share of sacrifice (10, 85¹⁹). Soma's wisdom thus comes to be predominantly dwelt upon³⁶. He is a wise seer (8, 68¹). He knows the races of the gods (9, 81². 95². 97⁷. 108³). He is a wise man-seeing wave (9, 78²). Soma with intelligence surveys creatures (9, 71⁹). Hence he is many-eyed (9, 26⁵) and thousand-eyed (9, 60¹).

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Soma stimulated the Fathers to deeds (9, 96¹¹); through him the Fathers found the light and the cows (9, 97³⁹). Soma is also said to be united with the fathers (8, 48¹³) or to be accompanied by them (AV. 18, 4¹²; ŚB. 2, 6, 1⁴, &c.), the Fathers, conversely, being called soma-loving, (*somya*: 10, 14⁶; AV. 2, 12⁵).

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The exhilerating effect of the draught on man was naturally transferred to the gods, to whom the Soma was offered. The main application of its intoxicating power is its stimulating effect on Indra in his conflict with the hostile powers of the air. That Soma strengthens Indra for the fight with Vṛtra, is mentioned in innumerable passages of the RV. (8, 81¹⁷ &c.). In the intoxication of Soma Indra slays all foes (9, 1¹⁰) and no one can resist him in battle when he has drunk it (6, 47¹). Soma is the soul of Indra (9, 85³), the auspicious friend of Indra (10, 25⁹), whose vigour he stimulates (9, 76²) and whom he aids in slaying Vṛtra (9, 61²²). With Soma as a companion Indra made the waters to flow for man and slew the dragon (4, 28¹). Thus Soma is sometimes even called the bolt (*vajra*) of Indra (9. 72⁷. 77¹ 111³). Soma, Indra's juice, becomes a thousand-winning bolt (9, 47³). It is the intoxicating draught which destroys a hundred forts (9, 48²) and is a Vṛtra-slaying intoxicating stalk (6, 17¹¹). Thus the god Soma is said to be 'like Indra a slayer of Vṛtras and a fort-destroyer' (9, 88⁴) and comes to receive half a dozen times the epithet *vṛtrahan*, 'Vṛtra-slaying', which primarily belongs to Indra³⁷.

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When drunk by Indra Soma caused the sun to rise in heaven (9, 86²²). So this cosmic action comes to be attributed to Soma independently. He caused the sun to shine (9, 28⁵. 37⁴), caused the lights of the sky to shine (9, 85⁹), and produced the sun in the waters (9, 42¹)³⁸. He caused the sun to rise, impelled it, obtained and bestowed it, and caused the dawns to shine³⁹. He makes his worshippers participate in the sun (9, 4⁵) and finds light for them (9, 35¹). He found the light (9, 59⁴) and wins light and heaven (9, 3²). Just as even the sacrificial butter is spoken of as the 'navel of immortality', on which rests the whole world (4, 58¹·¹¹), the conception of Soma comes to be extended to that of a being of universal dominion (9, 86²⁸·²⁹), who is 'lord of the quarters' (9, 113²), who performs the great cosmic actions of generating the two worlds (9, 90¹), of creating or establishing heaven and earth, of supporting heaven, and of placing light in the sun (6, 44²³⁻⁴. 47³·⁴)⁴⁰.

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Being so intimately connected with Indra in the conflict with Vṛtra, Soma comes to be spoken of independently as a great fighter. He is a victor, unconquered in fight, born for battle (1, 91²¹). He is the most heroic of heroes, the fiercest of the terrible, ever victorious (9, 66¹⁶⁻⁷). He conquers for his worshippers cows, chariots, horses, gold, heaven, water, a thousand boons (9, 78⁴), and everything (8, 68¹). Without reference to his warlike character, he is constantly said to bestow all the wealth of heaven and earth, food, cattle, horses, and so forth (9, 45³. 49⁴. 52¹ &c.). Soma himself is occasionally called a treasure (*rayi*: 9, 48³) or the wealth of the gods (ŚB. 1, 6, 4⁵). Soma can also afford protection from foes (10, 25⁷). He drives away goblins (9, 49⁵) and, like some other deities but more frequently, receives the epithet of goblin-slayer (*rakṣohan*). Soma is the only god who is called a slayer of the wicked (9, 28⁶ &c.). In the later Vedic literature the statement occurs that Brāhmans who drink Soma are able to slay at a glance (MS. 4, 8²)⁴¹.

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Being a warrior, Soma is said to have weapons (9, 96¹⁶), which like a hero he grasps in his hand (9, 76²) and which are terrible and sharp (9, 61³⁰. 90³). In one passage he is said to have obtained his weapons by robbing his malignant father of them (6, 44²²). He is described as armed with a thousand-pointed shaft (9, 83⁵. 86⁴⁰) and his bow is swift (9, 90³).

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Soma rides in the same chariot as Indra (9, 87⁹. 96². 103⁵). He is charioteer to the car-fighter Indra (AV. 8, 8²³). He drives in a car (9, 3⁵), which is heavenly (9, 111³). He has light (9, 86⁴⁵) or a filter for his car (9, 83⁵). He is the best of charioteers (9, 66²⁶). He has well-winged mares of his own (9, 86³⁷) and a team like Vāyu (9, 88³).

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Soma is naturally sometimes connected with Indra's intimate associates, the Maruts. They are said to milk the bull of heaven (9, 108¹¹, cp. 54¹) and to adorn the child when born (9, 96¹⁷). Like Indra, Soma is attended by the Maruts (6, 47⁵) or the troop of the Maruts (9, 66²²). The Winds, too, are said to be gladdening to Soma (9, 31³) and Vāyu is his guardian (10, 85⁵). Soma forms a pair with Agni, Pūṣan, and Rudra respectively (p. 128—9). A few times he is mystically indentified with Varuṇa (9, 77⁵. 95⁴; cp. 73³·⁹; 8, 41⁸).

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The Soma plant is once in the RV. (10, 34¹) described as *maujavata*, which according to later statements⁴² would mean 'produced on Mount Mūjavat'. Soma is also several times described as dwelling in the mountains (*giriṣṭhā*)⁴³ or growing in the mountains⁴⁴ (*parvatāvṛdh*: 9, 46¹). Mountains are also called 'Soma-backed' (AV. 3, 21¹⁰), a term which, perhaps by sacrificial symbolism, is applied to the pressing stones (*adrayaḥ*) in RV. 8, 52². All these terms point to the abode of the Soma plant being on terrestrial mountains (cp. especially 9, 82³). This is confirmed by the statement of the Avesta that Haoma grows on the mountains⁴⁵. Since the Soma plant actually grew on mountains, it is probable that this fact is present to the mind of the poet even when he says that 'on the vault of heaven sweet-tongued friends milk the mountain-dwelling bull' (9, 85¹⁰ cp. 95⁴). Terrestrial hills may also be intended when it is said that 'Varuṇa has placed Agni in the waters, the sun in heaven, and Soma on the rock' (5, 85²), or that 'Mātariśvan brought the one (Agni) from heaven, while the eagle carried off the other (Soma) from the rock' (1, 93⁶); but here there is more doubt, as 'mountain' and 'rock' mythologically often mean 'cloud' (p. 10).

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Though Soma is a terrestrial plant, it is also celestial (10, 116³); in fact its true origin and abode are regarded as in heaven. Thus it is said that the birth of the plant is on high; being in heaven it has been received by earth (9, 61¹⁰). The 'intoxicating juice' is the 'child of heaven' (9, 38⁵), an epithet frequently applied to Soma. In one passage, however, he is called the offspring (*jāḥ*) of the sun (9, 93¹) and in another Parjanya is spoken of as the father of the mighty bird (9, 82³ cp. 113³). In the AV. the origin of *amṛta* is also traced to the seed of Parjanya (AV. 8, 7²¹). When Soma is called a child (*śiśu*) simply (9, 96¹⁷) or a youth (*yuvan*), this is doubtless in allusion to the fact that, like Agni, he is continually produced anew⁴⁶. Soma is the milk (*pīyūṣa*) of heaven (9, 51² &c.), is purified in heaven (9, 83². 86²² &c.). He flows with his stream to the dear places of heaven (9, 12⁸). He runs through heaven across the spaces with his stream (9, 3⁷). He occupies heaven (9, 85⁹), is in heaven (ŚB. 3, 4, 3¹³), or is the lord of heaven (9, 86¹¹·³³). As bird of heaven he looks down on earth and regards all beings (9, 71⁹). He stands above all worlds like god Sūrya (9, 54³). The drops being purified have been poured from heaven, from the air, on the surface of the earth (9, 63²⁷)⁴⁷; for he is a traverser of space (*rajastur*: 4, 48⁴. 108⁷). Fingers rub him surrounded with milk 'on the third ridge, in the bright realm of heaven' (9, 86²⁷). His place is in the highest heaven (3, 32¹⁰; 4, 26⁶; 9, 86¹⁵) or in the third heaven (TS. 3, 5, 7¹ &c.)⁴⁸. 'Heaven', however, also seems to be frequently a mystical name of the strainer of sheep's wool⁴⁹. This seems to be the case when Soma is spoken of as being 'on the navel of heaven, on the sheep-filter' (9, 12⁴), as traversing the lights of heaven, the sheep-filter (9, 37³), as running with Sūrya in heaven, on the filter (9, 27⁵); or when it is said that 'the bull has occupied heaven, the king goes soaring over the strainer' (9, 85⁹ cp. 86⁸). The term *sānu*, 'summit', so frequently applied to the filter, is suggestive of *divaḥ sānu*, 'the summit of heaven'. Such terms would naturally come to be connected with the terrestrial Soma, because heaven is the abode of the celestial Soma or *amṛta* (6, 44²³).

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Soma has been brought from heaven (9, 63²⁷. 66³⁰). The myth most commonly expressive of this belief is that of Soma and the eagle. It was brought by the eagle (1, 80²). The bird brought Soma from that highest heaven (4, 26⁶). The eagle brought the Soma or mead (*madhu*) to Indra (3, 43⁷; 4, 18¹³). The swift eagle flew to the Soma plant (5, 45⁹); the eagle tore off the sweet stalk for Indra (4, 20⁶). The eagle brought it for Indra through the air with his foot (8, 71⁹). Flying swift as thought, the bird broke through the iron castle (cp. 4, 27¹), going to heaven he brought the Soma for the wielder of the bolt (8, 89⁸). The eagle bore the plant from afar, from heaven (9, 68⁶. 77². 86²⁴; 10, 11⁴. 99⁸. 144⁴). The myth is most fully dealt with in RV. 4, 26 and 27⁵⁰. In the Brāhmaṇas it is Gāyatrī, a mystical sacerdotal name of Agni⁵¹, that carries off the Soma. In the RV. the eagle is constantly distinguished from Indra as bringing the Soma to him. There is only one passage (unconnected with this myth) in which Indra seated at the Soma offering is called an eagle (10, 99⁸). 'Eagle of heaven' is an epithet applied to Agni (7, 15⁴: otherwise twice said of the Maruts), the term eagle is connected with Agni Vaidyuta or lightning (TB. 3, 10, 5¹ cp. 12, 1²), and Agni is often called a bird in the RV. (p. 89). On this evidence Bloom-field, who subjects his predecessors' interpretations of RV. 4, 27 to a searching criticism, with much plausibility explains the carrying off of Soma by the eagle as a mythological account of the simple phenomenon of the descent of lightning, darting from the cloud (i. e. the iron castle) and causing the fall of the ambrosial fluid Soma (i. e. the water of the cloud). At the same time he refers to a passage of the RV. (1, 93⁶) in which the descent of fire and of Soma are mentioned together⁵². A detail of the myth (probably a mere embellishment added by the individual poet) is the trait that as the eagle carried away Soma, the archer Kṛśānu⁵³ shot at him knocking out a feather (4, 273·4; cp. AB. 3, 25). This trait is related with greater detail in the Brāhmaṇas. Either a feather or a claw is here stated to have been shot off. Falling to the ground, it became a *parṇa* (*palāśa*) or a *śalyaka* tree. The tree hereby acquired a specially sacred character in connexion with the ritual⁵⁴.

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Being the most important of herbs Soma is said to have been born as the lord of plants (9, 114²), which are also said to have Soma as their king⁵⁵ (9, 97¹⁸⁻⁹). He receives the epithet *vanaspati*, 'lord of the wood' (1, 91⁶; 9, 12⁷) and is said to have generated all plants (1, 91²²). In the Brāhmaṇas plants are connected with Soma, being styled *saumya* (ŚB. 12, 1, 1²)⁵⁶. Irrespectively of his being lord of plants, Soma is often, like other leading gods, called a king⁵⁷. He is also a king of rivers (9, 89²), a king of the whole earth (9, 97⁵⁸), a king or father of the gods (9, 86¹⁰. 87². 109⁴) a king of gods and mortals (9, 97²⁴), and a king of Brāhmans (VS. 9, 40; TS. 1, 8¹⁰; MS. 2, 6⁹). He is of course often called a god; but in one passage he is described as 'a god pressed for the gods' (9, 36·7).

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In the post-Vedic literature Soma is a regular name of the moon, which is regarded as being drunk up by the gods and so waning, till it is filled up again by the sun. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (5, 10¹) the statement is found that the moon is king Soma, the food of the gods, and is drunk up by them⁵⁸. Even in the Brāhmaṇas the identification of Soma with the moon is already a common-place⁵⁹. Thus the AB. (7, 11) remarks that the moon is the Soma of the gods; the ŚB. (1, 6, 4⁵), that king Soma, the food of the gods, is the moon; and in the Kauṣītaki Br. (7, 10; 4, 4) the sacrificial plant or juice is symbolical of the moon-god. The mythology of the Brāhmaṇas already explains the phases of the moon as due to the gods and Fathers eating its substance, which consists of ambrosia⁶⁰. Soma, as the moon, is in the YV. also conceived as having the lunar asterisms, the daughters of Prajāpati, for his wives⁶¹. In the AV., moreover, Soma several times means the moon (7, 813·4; 11, 6⁷, &c.). A large number of scholars agree that even in a few of the latest hymns of the RV. (in the first and tenth books) Soma is already identified with the moon⁶². Most of them, however, hold that Soma as a god is celebrated in the Vedic hymns only as a personification of the beverage, regarding his identification with the moon as merely a secondary mythological growth⁶³. The most important of the passages in which the identification is generally admitted, is that which describes the wedding of Soma and the sun-maiden Sūryā (10, 85)⁶⁴. Here Soma is spoken of as 'in the lap of the stars', (v.²), and it is said that no one eats of that Soma which the priests know and which is contrasted with that which they crush (v. 3). The Soma nature of the moon being referred to as a secret known to Brāhmans only, shows that it cannot yet have been a popular notion. The process by which the celestial Soma gradually coalesced with the moon is not difficult to understand. Soma is, on the one hand, continually thought of as celestial and bright, sometimes as dispelling darkness and swelling in the waters; on the other hand, it is very often called a ‘drop’, *indu* (6, 44²¹)⁶⁵. Comparison with the moon would therefore easily suggest itself. Thus Soma in the bowls is said in one passage to appear like the moon in the waters (8, 71⁸; cp. 1, 105¹); and in another, Soma being described as the drop (*drapsa*) which goes to the ocean, looking with the eye of a vulture (10, 123⁸), is generally admitted to allude to the moon.

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Hillebrandt, however, in his Vedische Mythologie not only claims this identification for a number of other passages in the RV., but asserts that in the whole of the ninth book Soma is the moon (p. 309) and nowhere the ordinary plant (p. 326), the ninth book in fact being a book of hymns to the moon⁶⁶. Soma, he maintains, means, in the earliest as well as the latest parts of the whole RV., only the Soma plant or juice on the one hand, and, as a deity, only the moon on the other (pp. 274. 340. 450). According to his view, the moon is a receptacle of Soma or *amṛta* and is the god whom the worshipper means when he presses the draught, which is part of the lunar ambrosia. Hillebrandt goes even further than this complete identification of Soma and the moon in the RV. He also asserts that the moon-god as Soma forms the centre of Vedic belief and cult (p. 277), being the creator and ruler of the world much more than the sun (p. 313), while Indra is the most popular Vedic god only next to the moon⁶⁷ (p. 315).

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In opposition to this hypothesis, it has been argued that, in the vast majority of the references to Soma in the RV., the character of the god as a personification of the plant and juice is clear and obvious. On the other hand, while the identification of Soma and the moon is perfectly clear in the later literature, there is in the whole of the RV. no single distinct and explicit instance either of the identification or of the conception that the moon is the food of the gods. It is only in passages where the brilliance of Soma, so constantly connected with the sun, is vaguely expressed, that references to the moon can be found. At the same time it is possible that amid the chaotic details of the imagery of the Soma hymns, there may occasionally lurk a veiled identification of ambrosia and the moon. Here and there passages celebrating the luminous nature of Soma or referring to his swelling (*āpyāyana*), which affords a parallel to the swelling of the moon, may allude to such a notion. But on the whole, with the few late exceptions generally admitted, it appears to be certain that to the seers of the RV. the god Soma is a personification of the terrestrial plant and juice⁶⁸. It is, moreover, hardly conceivable that all the Vedic commentators, in whose day Soma and the moon were believed to be one, should not know that Soma means the moon in the RV. also⁶⁹.

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It is an undoubted fact that Soma, the Avestan Haoma, was already prepared and celebrated in the Indo-Iranian period. In the RV. Soma is described as growing on the mountains or a particular mountain; in the Avesta it is said to grow on a certain mountain. In the RV. Varuṇa places it on the rock; in the Avesta it is placed on the great mountain Haraiti by a skilful god. In the RV. it is brought by an eagle; in the Avesta it is distributed from its native mountain by certain auspicious birds. In both it is king of plants. In both it is a medicine which gives health, long life, and removes death. As Soma grows in the waters, so Haoma in the waters of Ardvī-sūra⁷⁰. The pressing and offering of Soma was already an important feature of Indo-Iranian worship. But while three daily pressings are referred to in the RV., only two are mentioned in the Avesta (Yasna 10, 2). In both it is stated that the stalks (*aṃśu* = *āsu*) were pressed, that the juice was yellow and was mixed with milk (Yasna 10, 13). In both the celestial Soma is distinguished from the terrestrial, and the beverage from the god. In both the mythical home of Soma is heaven, whence it comes down to earth. In both the Soma draught (like the sacrificial fire) had already become a mighty god and is called a king. As Soma is *vṛtrahan*, so Haoma is *verethrajan* and casts missiles (*vadare* = Vedic *vadhar*). Both are light-winning (*svarṣā* = *hvaresa*) and wise (*sukratu* = *hukhratu*). Both remove the machinations of the wicked, bestow victory over foes, and confer the celestial world. Both grant steeds and excellent children. The RV. and the Avesta even agree in the names of ancient preparers of Soma, Vivasvat and Trita Āptya on the one hand, and Vīvaṅhvant, Āthwya, and Thrita on the other⁷¹. The belief in an intoxicating divine beverage, the home of which was heaven, may be Indo-European. If so, it must have been regarded as a kind of honey-mead (Skt. *mádhu*, Gk. μέθυ, As. *medu*) brought down to earth from its guardian demon by an eagle (the Soma-bringing eagle of Indra agreeing with the nectar-bringing eagle of Zeus and with the eagle which, as a metamorphosis of Odhin, carried off the mead)⁷². This *madhu* or honey-mead, if Indo-European, was replaced in the Indo-Iranian period by Soma; but may have survived into the Vedic period, by amalgamating with Soma⁷³.

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Etymologically *Soma* = *Haoma* means ‘pressed juice’, being derived from the root *su* = *hu*, ‘to press’.

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¹ OLDENBERG, ZDMG. 42, 241. —

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² BRV. 1, 182. —

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³ HVM. 1, 47. —

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⁴ *Anna* = *surā* ŚB. 12, 7, 3⁸; cp. HVM. 1, 264. —

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⁵ HVM. 1, 518. —

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⁶ KHF. 128 f.; ZDMG. 32, 301. —

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⁷ HVM. 1, 243—4. —

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⁸ Op. cit. 28. —

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⁹ Op. cit. 468 ff.; ORV. 389. —

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¹⁰ HILLEBRANDT, Vedainterpretation 16. —

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¹¹ HVM. 1, 182. —

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¹² Op. cit. 151. —

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¹³ Op. cit. 206—7. —

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¹⁴ WINDISCH, FaR. 141. —

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¹⁵ HVM. 1, 186. —

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¹⁶ LRV. 3, 378—9. —

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¹⁷ HVM. 1, 210. —

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¹⁸ Op. cit. 229. —

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¹⁹ Op. cit. 195. —

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²⁰ Op. cit. 256, note 3. —

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²¹ Op. cit. 189. —

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²² LRV. 5, 260. —

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²³ Otherwise HVM. 1, 392—3. —

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²⁴ WINDISCH, FaR. 140. —

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²⁵ PVS. 1, 87—8; KHF. 129. 142. 227; KZ. 1, 521 ff.; GGH. 70. 115; WVB. 1894, 4. 13. —

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²⁶ HRI. 123—4. —

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²⁷ BRV. 1, 165. —

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²⁸ Op. cit. 1, 170; lightning is associated with rain in 1, 39⁹; 5, 84³; 7, 56¹³; 10, 91⁵ cp. 5, 83⁴; BLOOMFIELD, AJP. 7, 470. —

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²⁹ BRV. 1, 204. —

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³⁰ HVM. 1, 340 thinks the horns are those of the moon. —

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³¹ References in HVM. 1, 601. —

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³² KRV. note 308; BRV. 1, 192. —

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³³ BRV. 1, 185; HVM. 1, 349. —

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³⁴ ROTH, ZDMG. 35, 687; WEBER, IS. 10, 360; HVM. 1, 79. —

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³⁵ BRV. 1, 300, note 2; HVM. 1, 403. —

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³⁶ BRV. 1, 185—6. —

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³⁷ KHF. 105; MACDONELL, JRAS. 25, 472. —

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³⁸ HVM. 1, 387—8. —

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³⁹ References in HVM. 1, 388. —

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⁴⁰ Cp HAUG, ZDMG. 7, 511. —

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⁴¹ ZDMG. 7, 331. 375. —

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⁴² VS. 3, 61 and comm., Āp. ŚS. 12, 5, 11; YN. 9, 8; cp. AIL. 29; HVM. 1, 63 ff. —

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⁴³ Twice, also said of Viṣṇu, once of the Maruts. —

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⁴⁴ ‘Bergfroh’, HILLEBRANDT, Vedainterpretation 15. —

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⁴⁵ On the habitat of the Soma plant, see ROTH, ZDMG. 38, 134—9; MM., Biographies of Words (London, 1888) 222—42. —

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⁴⁶ JRAS. 25, 437. —

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⁴⁷ WINDISCH, FaR. 140. —

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⁴⁸ Also 6, 1, 6¹; Kāṭh. 23, 10 in IS. 8, 31; VS. 1, 211; TB. 1, 1, 3¹⁰; 3, 2, 1¹. —

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⁴⁹ HVM. 1, 361, note 3. —

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⁵⁰ ROTH, ZDMG. 36, 353—60. 384; LUDWIG, Methode 30. 66; KOULIKOVSKI, Revue de linguistique 18, 1—9; BRV. 3, 322 ff.; PVS. 1, 207—16; HVM. 1, 278—9; BLOOMFIELD, FaR. 149—55; ORV. 180—1; WVB. 1894, p. 5. —

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⁵¹ Cp. ŚB. 3, 9, 4¹⁰; KHF. 130 f. 144 f. 172. —

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⁵² BLOOMFIELD, JAOS. 16, 1—24; ORV. 176. 180 thinks there is no reason to see a natural agent in the bird, or to assume any connexion between the Soma and the water of clouds. —

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⁵³ SP.AP. 224. —

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⁵⁴ KHF. 159 f. 170. 209; WVB. 1894, p. 5. —

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⁵⁵ Cp. ZDMG. 25, 647. —

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⁵⁶ HVM. 1, 390, note 4. —

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⁵⁷ Op. cit. 317—8. —

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⁵⁸ DEUSSEN, System des Vedānta 415 ff. —

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⁵⁹ WVB. 1894, p. 16—7. —

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⁶⁰ HVM. 1, 296. —

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⁶¹ WEBER, Nakṣatra 2, 274 ff; OLDENBERG, ZDMG. 49, 470; on Soma dwelling with Rohiṇī, cp. JACOBI, FaR. 71, note; R. BROWN JR., Academy 42, 439. —

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⁶² HVM. 1, 269. —

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⁶³ BRV. 1, 160. —

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⁶⁴ WEBER, IS. 5, 178 ff.; WVB. 1894, p. 34; OST. 5, 237; EHNI, ZDMG. 33, 167—8; JACOBI, ib. 49, 227; OLDENBERG, ib. 478. —

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⁶⁵ EHNI, l. c. —

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⁶⁶ Cp. BLOOMFIELD, AJP. 14, 491—3; MM. Fortnightly Review, Oct. 1893, 443 ff. (= Chips 4², 328—67) — ⁶⁷ GUBERNATIS, Myth. des Plantes 2, 351, Letture sopra la mitol. vedica 106, and PVS. 1, 80 (cp. 2, 242) had called for a complete identification, but without attempting to prove the proposition (cp. GGA. 1889, p. 10). — ⁶⁸ WHITNEY, PAOS. 1894, p. xcix f.; ORV. 599—612. — ⁶⁹ HRI. 117. — ⁷⁰ SPIEGEL, Av. Tr. 2, LXXII f.; DARMESTETER, Ormazd et Ahriman 140. — ⁷¹ Yasna IX—X; cp. SP.AP. 172; HVM. 1, 121. 265. 450; ORV. 178; MACDONELL, JRAS. 25, 485. — ⁷² ORV. 176. — ⁷³ Op. cit. 178. WINDISCHMANN, Ueber den Somakultus der Arier, Abh. d. Münchner Akad. 1846, p. 127 ff.; KHF. 105 ff.; WHITNEY, JAOS. 3, 299; WEBER, IS. 3, 466; WVB. 1894, p. 3. 13—17; HAUG, AB. Introd. p. 61—2; OST. 5, 258—71; BRV. 1, 148—225 &c.; BRI. 24; ROTH, ZDMG. 35, 680—92; SP.AP. 168—78; HVM. I; ZDMG. 48, 419 f.; E. H. MEYER, IF. 2, 161; KNAUER, Vedische Fragen, FaR. 61—7; HVBP. 68—74. ¹ OST. 5, 395—6; V. Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas, Paris 1891; Bloomfield, AJP. 12, 429—44; HRI. 209, n. 1. — ² Roth, PW.; cp. GW.; WC. 9—10. — ³ Cp. PW. s. v. *tvaṣṭṛ*. — ⁴ Ibid. — ⁵ OST. 5, 229. — ⁶ Roth, Nir. Erl. 144. — ⁷ Weber, Omina und Portenta 391—2. — ⁸ GGH. 113—6. — ⁹ KRV. note 131. — ¹⁰ KZ. 1, 448. — ¹¹ KHF. 109. — ¹² LRV. 3, 333—5. — ¹³ ORV. 233. — ¹⁴ HVM. 1, 517. — ¹⁵ HVBP. 30—1. ZDMG. 1, 522; Geiger, Ostiranische Kultur 304; BRI. 22; BRV. 3, 38—64; HVM. 1, 513—35; IF. 1, 8; Ehni, Yama 4—16; Oldenberg, SBE. 46, 416 f. 248.

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