Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t4.1

c5.s3.t4.1

— 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.