Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t4.3

c5.s3.t4.3

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).