Soma (Yajña Drink)

Soma · soma, “the pressed juice of the yajña”

Aśvinī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Aśvinī. Kṛttikā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kṛttikā. Pushya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pushya. Rohiṇī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rohiṇī. Kshetrajña has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kshetrajña. Vibhāvarī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vibhāvarī. Rohiṇī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rohiṇī. Soma has other meanings too: see all meanings of Soma.

Grammar: masculine noun, from the root su (to press out): “that which is pressed”, the juice of the soma plant.

Meaning: the juice pressed from the soma plant and offered in the Vedic yajña; the yāgas in which it is offered are the soma-yāgas, and its pressings are the three savanas of the day.

In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names soma in the body of Yajña-Varāha and in the yajñas of Daksha and Gaya.

When Bhagavān Varāha rose from the waters with the earth, the munis praised him as the yajña itself, and Maitreya tells Vidura their words. In the hollow of his throat are the grahas, the soma cups; the soma juice is his semen; the morning, midday and evening savanas are his states, from childhood on, or waking, dream and deep sleep; and the seven kinds of soma-yāga, agnishṭoma, atyagnishṭoma, uktha, shoḍaśī, vājapeya, atirātra and āptoryāma, are the seven dhātus of his body. All yajñas, those without soma and the kratus with soma, are his very form (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 13).

At Daksha’s yajña, when the followers of Rudra rushed upon it, Bhṛgu Maharshi offered a homa into the dakshiṇāgni, and from it the devatās called the Ṛbhus appeared with great speed. They had formerly performed tapas and obtained Candraloka and a share of the soma in yajñas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 4).

Śuka tells Parīkshit of the yajñas of the king Gaya: Indra drank so much soma in his yajña that he became intoxicated (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 15).

Related terms: Somayāga · Savana · Agnishṭoma · Yajña · Ṛtvij

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 13; Skandha 4, Chapter 4; Skandha 5, Chapter 15