54^ pPant Tsore, Tsege^/, anil "bijric/*. 



very nasty drink, but has some intoxicating effecft. The sap 

 referred to is sharp and acid, and, according to Decandolle, would 

 be poisonous if taken in large quantities ; in many cases the nerves 

 are affecfted by it, as if by a narcotic ; but it is benumbing in its 

 influence, as it hinders the adlivity of the nerves, without inducing 

 sleep." From this sacred plant, which has the mystic five white 

 petals, is obtained a milky exudation (symbolising the motherhood 

 of Nature), out of which is made the Vedic Amrita, a divine beverage 

 that confers immortality; and, probably on this account, the plant 

 itself is worshipped as a god. Thus we find it so addressed in a 

 hymn from the Rigveda, translated by Muir : — 



" We've quaffed the Soma bright, 



And are immortal grown ; 

 We've entered into light, 



And all the gods have known. 

 What mortal now can harm, 



Or foeman vex us more ? 

 Through thee beyond alarm, 



Immortal god ! we soar." 



The Soma sap is used as the Soma drink for the initiation of the 

 Djoga ; it is said to produce the magical condition in which, raised 

 above the universe to the great centre, and united with Brahma, 



the seer beholds everything. In the Hindu worship, libations 



to the gods were of three kinds — butter, honey, and the fermented 

 juice of the Soma-plant. The butter and honey were poured upon 

 the sacrificial fire ; the Soma juice was presented in ladles to the 

 deities mvoked, part sprinkled on the fire, part on the Kusa, or 

 Sacred Grass, strewed upon the floor, and the rest invariably 

 drunk by those who had conducfted the ceremony. The exhila- 

 rating properties of the fermented juice of the Soma filled the wor- 

 shippers with delight and astonishment; and the offering of this 

 sacred liquid was deemed to be especially pleasing to the Hindu 



gods. In the lunar sacrifices, the Soma drink was prepared with 



mystical ceremonies, with invocations of blessings and curses, by 

 which the powers of the world above and below were incor- 

 porated with it. According to their intended use, various herbs 

 were mixed with the principal ingredient. Windischmann remarks 

 that the use of the Soma was looked upon in early ages as a holy 

 a(5tion, and as a sacrament, by which the union with IBrahma was 

 produced; thus, in Indian writings, passages similar to the fol- 

 lowing, often occur: "Prajapati himself drinks this milk, the 

 essence of all nourishment and knowledge — the milk of immor- 

 tality." The Gandharvas, a race of demigods, are represented 



in certain of the Vedic legends as custodians of the Soma or Amrita, 

 and as keeping such close watch over the divine beverage, that 

 only by force or cunning can the thirsty gods obtain a supply of 



the immortalising drink. One of the Hindu synonymes of Soma 



is madhu, which means a mixed drink ; and this word is the mcthu 

 of the Greeks, and the mead of our own Saxon, Norse, and Celtic 

 ancestors. 



