A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c9.27

v1.c9.27

The higher gods of the *Rigveda* are almost entirely personifications of the elements and the other natural phenomena, such as the fire and the wind, the sun and the dawn. But we often find also herbs and plants endowed with potent and active properties, raised to the dignities of the gods and addressed as such. The Soma plant is an object of particular adoration and the Vedic worshippers are in ecstacy over the exhilarating effects of the fermented juice expressed from it.¹ The Soma rasa (juice) began even to be regarded as the amrita; this immortal draught, allied to the Greek ambrosia, is "the stimulant which conferred immortality upon the gods . . . it is medicine for a sick man and the god Soma heals whatever is sick.” It will be seen later on that in the Soma rasa and its attributes we have the dawn of Hindu Alchemy (*Vide* p. 79).