soma/haoma

[Stephen Hodge]

Vijay Shankar wrote:

> Acc to Kochhar, soma/haoma is indeed the mountain-grown,ephedrine
 -yielding species of Ephedra.  He says that the Indo-Iranian habitat
must
> be the {common}Soma-land.

I wonder how many of the scholars who have theories about the
botanical identity of soma have actually tried ingesting the plants
they propose.  In my experience, ephedrine alone is interesting but
does not seem adequate to deserve the high praise soma is given in the
Rg Veda.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge