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Encyclopediasomasoma (sō'mu) [key], psychotropic plant, the juice of which was sometimes drunk as part of the Vedic sacrifice (see Veda). Many hymns in the Rig-Veda are in praise of soma. In the late Vedic period substitutes for soma came to be used, and the original plant was lost. It has recently been identified with the fly agaric mushroom, Amanita muscaria, used in Siberian shamanism. See R. G. Wasson, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality (1971). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. More on soma from Infoplease:
- Soma - Soma The moon, born from the eyes of Atri, son of Brahma; made the sovereign of plants and planets. ...
- Ninth Khanda - 1. On the fourth of these nectars the Maruts live, with Soma at their head. True, the Devas do not eat or drink, but they enjoy by seeing the nectar.
- Fourth Khanda - 1. “The altar (on which the sacrifice is supposed to be offered) is that world (heaven), O Gautama; its fuel is the sun itself, the smoke his rays, th
- Fifth Khanda - 1. “The altar is Parganya (the god of rain), O Gautama; its fuel is the air itself, the smoke the cloud, the light the lightning, the coals. the thund
- Third Khanda - 1. That man (conceived as uktha) is the sea, rising beyond the whole world. Whatever he reaches, he wishes to go beyond. If he reaches the sky, he wis
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