The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c7.s2.31

c7.s2.31

² Numerous references in Bergaigne, Rel. Véd., I, 152 & ff: 192. The soma-plant has most frequently been identified with an asclepiade. It seems that several species have been employed at different times and in different places, cf., Aurel Stein, On the Ephedra, the Hūm Plant & the Soma, in B.S.O.S., 1931, Vol. VI, p. 501-514. For the rapprochements between the soma and the haoma, cf V. Henry Sóma & Homa in Ann. Mus. Guimet, Bibl. Vulg., Vol. XX, Paris, 1906, pp. 51-80; G. Dumézil Le Festin d’Immortalité, Paris, 1924 (numerous references in the index). Jogeshchandera Ray, The Soma Plant, in Ind. Hist. Quart., XV, 1939, p. 197, makes the identification of the soma plant with the Indian hemp extremely probable. According to a decisive remark of this author, it is in any case out of the question that this plant supplied an alcoholic drink as the effects of this drink are immediate when it is prepared extemporaneously by pressing and with the addition of water. The alcoholic fermentation required a long interval between preparation and consumption. (This will bring it very near bhang.-trsltr).