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Soma

Soma (Sanskrit), or Haoma (Avestan) (from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Sauma) was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the later Vedic and Iranian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, which contains many hymns praising its energizing or intoxicating qualities. It is described as prepared by pressing juice from the stalks of a certain mountain plant, which has been variously hypothesized to be a psychedelic mushroom, cannabis, or ephedra. In both Indian and Iranian tradition, the drink is identified with the plant, and also personified as a god, the three forming a religious or mythological unity.

Etymology

Both Soma and Haoma are derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-. The name of the Scythian tribe Hauma-varga is related to the word, and probably connected with the ritual. The word is also preserved in Persian hom. The word is derived from an Indo-Iranian root *sau- (Sanskrit su-) "to pressed", i.e. *sau-ma is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant (cf. Espresso). The root is probably Proto-Indo-European (*seuh-), and also appears in son (from *suhnu-, "pressed out" i.e. "newly born").

Soma in Indian tradition

Vedas

In the Vedas, or Vedic scriptures, Soma is portrayed as sacred and as a god (deva). The god is the plant and the drink; there is no difference. The plant is the god and the drink is the god and the plant is the drink — they are all three the same. Soma is similar to Greek ambrosia (cognate to amrita); it is what the gods drink, and what made them deities. Indra and Agni are known for drinking massive amounts of Soma. Mortals also drink it, giving access to the divine. The Rigveda (8.48.3, tr. Griffith) states,

a ·pāma sÛmam amŕtā abhūm’ganma jyÛtir ·vidāma dev’n

c kÌṃ nūn·m asm’n kṛṇavad ·rātiḥ kÌm u dhūrtÌr amṛta m·rtyasya

We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered.

Now what may foeman's malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man's deception?

The Ninth Mandala of the Rigveda is known as the Soma Mandala. It consists entirely of hymns addressed to Soma Pavamana ("purified Soma"). The drink Soma was kept and distributed by the Gandharvas. The Rig Veda associates the Sushoma, Arjika and other regions with Soma (e.g. 8.7.29; 8.64.10-11). Probably the most important Soma region described in the Rig Veda is Sharyanavat (e.g. RV 10.35.2; 9.113.1-2). In the Rig Veda, Soma is also associated with Samudra (see Frawley 2001 for references to Rig-vedic verses).

The plant is described as growing in the mountains (giristha, cf. Orestes), with long stalks, and of yellow or tawny (hari) colour. The drink is prepared by priests pounding the stalks with stones, an occupation that creates tapas (literally "heat", later referring to "spiritual excitement" in particular). The juice so gathered is mixed with other ingredients (including milk and honey) before it is drunk.

Other Hindu texts

The famous ayurvedic scholar Susruta wrote that the best Soma is found in the upper Indus and Kashmir region (Susruta Samhita: 537-538, SS.CS. 29.28-31).

Hinduism

In art, the god Soma was depicted as a bull or bird, and sometimes as an embryo, but rarely as an adult human. In Hinduism, the god Soma evolved into a lunar deity, and became associated with the underworld. The moon is the cup from which the gods drink Soma, and so Soma became identified with the moon god Chandra. A waxing moon meant Soma was recreating himself, ready to be drunk again. Alternatively, Soma's twenty-seven wives were daughters of Daksha, who felt he paid too much attention to just one of his wives, Rohini. He cursed him to wither and die, but the wives intervened and the death became periodic and temporary, and is symbolized by the waxing and waning of the moon.

Persian Haoma

The Iranian peoples called the drink Haoma. In Persia, the early Aryan rituals were reformed by Zoroaster. Our knowledge is sketchy, but evidence of the formerly great importance of the ritual may be glimpsed from the Avesta (particularly in the Hōm Yast, Yasna 9–11), and Old Iranian *hauma also survived as Middle Persian hōm. The plant Haoma yielded the essential ingredient for the ritual drink, parahaoma.

In the Hōm yašt, the god (yazata) Haoma appears to Zoroaster "at the time of pressing" (havani ratu) in the form of a beautiful man and exhorts him to gather and press Haoma plants (Y.9.1,2). Haoma's epitheta include "the Golden-Green One" (zairi-, Sanskrit hari-), "righteous" (ašavan-), "furthering righteousness" (aša-vazah-), and "of good wisdom" (hu.xratu-, Sanskrit sukratu-).

Haoma grants "speed and strength to warriors, excellent and righteous sons to those giving birth, spiritual power and knowledge to those who apply themselves to the study of the nasks" (Y. 9.22). As the religion's chief cult divinity he came to be perceived as its divine priest. Ahura Mazda is said (Y. 9.26) to have invested him with the sacred girdle, the aiwyÂnghana- and (Y. 10.89) to have installed Haoma as the "swiftly sacrificing zaotar" (Sanskrit hotar) for himself and the Aməša Spəntas. Haoma services were celebrated until the 1960s in a strongly conservative village near Yazd.

Haoma has been associated with Biblical tradition, and Christian mythology. According to the Parsi translator of the Zend Avesta, James Darmesteter, Haomacomprises the power of life of all the vegetable kingdom ... the zarathustri scriptures say that Haoma is of two kinds, the White Haoma and the Painless Tree ... could it be that soma is the Tree of Life? the giver of immortality?

Mircea Eliade speculated on a Zoroastrian origin for the Holy Grail Myth:

In a work published in 1939, the Parsi Scholar Sir Jahangir C. Coyajee has also remarked upon the analogy between the Grail and the Iranian Glory, xvarenah, and the similari‚ties between the legends of Arthur and those of the fabulous King Kay Khorsaw. Let us add that in the cycle of compositions posterior to Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Grail is won in India by Lohengrin, Parzival (Percival)'s son, accompanied by all the knights.

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