Perceptions

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PERCEPTIONS INDIA-2001
encyclopedia
SOMA (MOON -- LOVE & HAPPINESS)
qf^rrqms^CT ^H^sT sTS* vft^T^ ^?T: 11
rrqj- spq-ffe: m ?r>f^T^r f| ywr ^ y#xT i
q^rspffiTrrr HiTOTf g^r; ^prra; ^4<ft*K!uVn"vT 11
The Sanskrit verse and its
translation reflecting the ancient
Hindus' knowledge of astronomy is
similar to the modern scientific
explanation of the waxing and
waning of the moon.
The moon has no light of its own
and shines by reflecting the light of
the sun. The new moon occurs when
the moon on its revolution round the
earth passes below the sun as seen
from the earth. Then its entire dark
hemisphere faces the earth and it is
therefore invisible.
As the moon moves away from
the sun, from east to west, part of the
sunlit hemisphere becomes visible.
This increases in size till the full moon is
visible. After full moon less and less of the
sunlit hemisphere becomes visible till the
new moon is reached.
The growth of plants was connected with
the moon with which Soma, the King of
plants, was later identified. Soma was the
god who represented the potent Soma juice,
which had exhilarating qualities. In later
times the name Soma was given to the moon.
The waning and waxing of the moon is
explained as due to a curse of the Rishi
Daksha. whose twenty-seven daughters he
had married. These daughters are really
personifications of the twenty-seven lunar
asterisms. He paid so much attention to
Rohini, the fourth of them, that the others
became jealous and appealed to their father.
Daksha's intervention made no difference. He
cursed his son-in-law so that he remained
childless and became affected with
consumption. This moved his wives to pity
and they interceded with their father.
He could not recall his curse but he
modified it so that the decay became peri-
odical not permanent. Hence the waning and
waxing of the moon.
SOMA PLANT
The Soma plant of the Rig
Veda is a creeper (Asclepius
acida), almost destitute of leaves,
which had small, white fragrant
flowers around the extremities of
the branches. The plant yielded a
milky juice which extracted and
fermented formed a beverage
offered in libations to the deities and drunk
by the Brahmans. It had exhilarating
qualities. The gods were represented as
being equally fond of it.
When Soma was brought to the gods, a
dispute arose as to who should have the first
draught. At length, this was decided by a
race. Vayu first reached the goal, Indra being
second. India tried hard to win, and when
near the winning post proposed that they
should reach it together, Vayu taking
two-thirds of the drink. Vayu said, "Not so! I
will be the winner alone." Then Indra said,
"Let us come in together, and give me
one-fourth of the draught divine!" Vayu
consented to this, and so the juice was
shared between them.
Soma was personified as a god who rep-
resented and animated the soma juice. All
the 114 hymns of the ninth book of the Rig
Veda are dedicated to him.
In later years the name Soma was, and
still is, given to the moon.
In the verses descriptive and songs in
praise of Soma, the actual juice, and the god
supposed to dwell in and manifested by it,
are not at all distinct. All the gods drink of it;
and Soma, the god in the juice, is said to
clothe the naked and heal the sick. Many
divine attributes are ascribed to him :'
"This Soma is a god: he cures
The sharpest ills that .man endures.
He heals the sick, the sad he cheers,
He nerves the weak, dispels their fears;
The faint with martial ardour fires. with
lofty thoughts the bard inspires; The
soul from earth to heaven he lifts: So
great and wondrous are his gifts. Men
feel the god within their veins. And cry
in loud exulting strains;
'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.'
- W. J. Wilkins
Soma, the moon god, who performed the Rajasuya
sacrifice and acquired a vast dominion. He is
believed to have carried off Tara, wife of
Brihaspati. His son was Budha (planet mercury)
Names : Indu, Shashi (marked like a hare);
Mrigaanka (marked like a deer). Soma :
(Moon) produced from the churning of the
oceans. Nishaakara (maker of night).
Nakshatra-Naatha (Lord of the scintillation),
Sheeta-Marichi (Having cool rays),
Sheethaanshu (possessing white rays),
Shiva-Shekhara (Crest of Shiva).
Somanaatha (Someswara), Lord of the
moon' Chandra-Vamsha (Lunar race) Yadavas
and Pauravas claim descent from moon.
Chandra-Kaantha (the moon stone) gem
supposed to be formed by the concentration of
the moon's rays and has a cooling influence.
Eclipses are caused by Asura Rahu
(Svarbhaanu) seeking to seize Sun and Moon.
The sage Atri speaks : 'O Surya, when the asura's
descendant, Svarbhaanu, pierced thee through and through
with darkness. All creatures looked like one who is
bewildered, who knoweth not the place where he is standing.
What time thou smotest down Svarbhaanu's magic that
spread itself beneath the sky, O India, by his fourth
sacred-prayer Atri discovered Surya concealed in gloom that
stayed his function."
- A.C. Clayton