I am sympathetic to the arguments of Matthew Clark (I have not yet seen his book), but wish to raise a question that may or may not be relevant in this discussion:
It has repeatedly been observed that there is a "striking anomaly" between the much greater number of psychoactive plants known to the original Americans, who had utilised between eighty
and a hundred different species, as compared with the much smaller number — no more than eight or ten — used in the Old World (Peter Watson,
The Great Divide, Phoenix 2012, p. 193 ff., with references to Weston La Barre and others). Clark, too, refers to psychedelic drugs (ayahuasca, Daime, psilocybin) that are mainly known for their indigenous use in the Americas. My question is
therefore: What easily available plants might have been used by the consumers of Soma? Is it enough to say that certain plants contain DMT, certain others MAOIs, without specifying how these could be subjected to relatively easy processes that would result
in psychedelic substances?
Are there easy answers to these questions?
Johannes Bronkhorst
On 13 Oct 2018, at 09:53, Mark Singleton via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Posting on behalf of Matthew Clark (S0AS):_______________________________________________
In my book, "The Tawny One: Soma, Homa and Ayahuasca" (Muswell Hill Press, 2017), I take a fresh look at the soma/haoma issue. Summarized below is my argument. All the details, arguments, counter-arguments and references are supplied in my book. The points presented below comprise, generally, the current scholarly consensus on many of the topics.
1. The soma/homa cult originated in Turkmenistan.
2. Large scale migrations took place in Asia around 1600 BCE. (I suggest that these migratons, which coincided with the collapse of all Bronze Age civilizations, from Crete to the Indus, were caused by the eruption of the Santorini volcano in 1615 BCE.)
3. "Aryans" came to the Punjab from Turkmenistan (not Anatolya, e.g. Colin Renfrew). bringing the cults of soma and the sacred fire. These are the two central elements of ancient Indo-Iranian religion.
4. Soma rites are the most esteemed of Vedic shrauta rites.
5. There are three theories about soma that still have some scholarly support: ephedra, Syrian rue, and fly agaric.
6. Nearly all commentators agree that soma/haoma was a drug.
7. Ephedra is a mild stimulant, but like any stimulant, engenders a hangover. It is not visionary or psychedelic. Sustained use of large doses of ephedra is debilitating and can lead to tachycardia. But it may have been used sometimes as an additive to a "base" concoction (see below).
8. Ritualist appear to be "reborn" after a soma rite and not hungover.
9. The Labha Sukhta and Hom Yasht 9-11 appear, contra Falk et al., to indicate visionary or psychedelic experience.
10. Rue, at high doses, is almost psychedelic, but also highly destabilizing. It is not a psychedelic drug. It is dream-inducing: oneirophrenic. But rue contains MAOIs.
11. Wasson's fly agaric is a massive red herring (or red mushroom!). Since Wasson, people have been "finding" these mushrooms in Tibetan Buddhism, early Christianity and Greek mystery rites. I don't agree with any of these "findings".
Contra fly-agaric:
12. Even drying the mushrooms, thereby converting more of the ibotenic acid to muscimol, still does not eliminate toxins sufficiently to engender a ritual-friendly trip (blurred vision, stomach cramps, tremors etc.).
13. There is no pee drinking in the Vedas or Avesta.
14. Soma/haoma is the juice of stalks that need vigorous pounding. Stipes of mushrooms do not need pounding. In Siberia and Afghanistan the mushrooms are consumed whole, dried or peeled. Never are they pounded in mortar and pestle (as haoma is pounded in Zoroastrian and Mithraic rites, and with large stones in Vedic rites).
15. Fly agaric grows in many places in South Asia and worldwide. It is easily available.
16. If we are looking for a psychedelic, it was most probably a tryptamine, not a phenethylamine, and certainly not any plant containing scopolamine. Unlike the enthusiasm and reverence for the "classic" tryptamines (LSD in the 60s and 70s, psilocybin from the mid-70s, and ayahuasca, i.e. DMT + MAOIs, from the early 90s), nearly no one regularly drinks or eats fly agaric, even though it is easily available almost everywhere. Even Siberians often prefer alcohol to the mushrooms. Wasson himself tried the mushrooms many times but just felt sick and tired. Fly-agaric is, essentially, in my opinion, too toxic to be the queen of entheogens.
17. Soma was as purgative (see the Brahmanas). The purgative aspect is due to MAOIs, not DMT (see below). It was bitter and tawny coloured. During soma rites it is drunk about every three hours. Rites sometimes continue for several days. This has parallels with some ayahuasca rituals (see below).
18. In both the Vedas and Avesta there are references to "many somas/haomas": soma of the valleys, soma of the hills, soma of the rivers etc., in the Rigveda. "Many haomas" are mentioned several times in the Avesta.
19. Around 60 common plants contain DMT, and around 70 plants contain MAOIs. All 4,200 combinations work similarly as ayahuasca analogues.
20. In the Amazon region around 100 plants are used variously as additives to the base concoction for making ayahuasca, a mixture of DMT (in chacruna) and MAOIs (in the Banisteriopsis caapi vine). Recipes vary. It was the same in ancient Asia.
21. Soma/haoma was never one plant, it was many plants. As with curare, in South America, early researchers were wrong to think it was just one vine. Local shamans add lots of other plants as boosters.
22. Similarly, Ayurvedic formulas and Greek and Roman medicines often use complex plant formulas. The synergetic effect of some traditional, complex plant medicines is still poorly understood.
23. In the Materia Medica of India around 20 plants are called soma (including rue). Several of these plants contain either DMT or MAOIs. Virtually no phytochemical work has been done on the potential psychoactive properties of many plants called soma.
24. Soma/haoma was ayahuasca analogues. I identify around a dozen plants referred to in the Vedas and Avesta, some of which are known to contain DMT or MAOIs, which could have been used as soma/haoma concoctions.
25. The rituals of the Santo Daime church exhibit some striking parallels with Vedic ritual. This shows that regular, bi-weekly, life-long consumption of ayahuasca (or ayahuasca analogues) is quite compatible with sustained ritual activity and recitation of hymns/mantras.
26. The kykeon of the Greek mystery rites was also an ayahuasca analogue concoction.
27. Vedic and Zoroastrian soma/haoma rituals developed primarily as vehicles for a deep entheogenic trip, within a ritually confined and ordered space within which a trip could be safely and comfortably managed by trained priests.
My work on this topic is ongoing. I have made a few new discoveries since my book was published last year. Four articles that I have recently written on soma will be published next year.
Matthew Clark (SOAS).
On 09/10/2018 02:15, Jonathan Edelmann via INDOLOGY wrote:
Greetings,
Does anyone know of recent philological and pharmacological studies on the identification of soma in the Ṛgveda with Amanita muscaria? I’m aware of older studies by Wasson, Ingalls, Doniger, etc. Any help appreciated.
Sincerely,Jonathan Edelmann
Jonathan Edelmann • Assistant Professor
University of Florida • Department of Religion
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