Eternal India Encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

Eternal India

encyclopedia

SOMA

(MOON - LOVE & HAPPINESS)

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 re-

mained 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, 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-Nautha

(Lord

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 concen-

tration 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

standing.

What

time

thou

smotest

down

Svarbhaanu's magic that spread itself beneath the sky,

O Indra, by his fourth sacred-prayer Atri discovered

Surya concealed in gloom that stayed his function.’

— A.C. Clayton

SOMA PLANT

The Soma plant of the

Rig

Veda

is a creeper

(Asclepius

acida),

almost

destitute

leaves, which had small, white

fragrant flowers around the ex-

tremities 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 exhila-

rating 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. Indra 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