Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t4.32

c5.s3.t4.32

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).