Sambodhi 1994 Vol 19

Author(s): Jitendra B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 11

Vol. XIX, 1994-1995
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT... priest) and the soma-vikrayin (vendor of soma). With its form like a farce, this dialogue appears to be a precursor to Prahasana type of plays in Sanskrit. It was enacted on the occasion of the performance of Agnistoma Yajña. The dialogue went on between two persons assuming the roles of the salesman and the consumer. The Adhvaryu has the Soma - plant already in his possession, but overlooking this fact he hands it over to the persons who is performing the role of a soma-vikrayin. A sort of comic interchange of words ensues between the two. The Adhvaryu starts bargaining, or to put it in a better way enacts the bargaining of Soma. He repeats his sentence five times, followed by the repartee of the Soma-vikrayin or the priest who is enacting the role of the Somavikrayin. KSS leterally reproduces this dialogue in the following way:
Adhvaryu: Hey, will you sell this Soma ? Vendor : Yes, sir, it is for sell. Adh. : I will purchase it. Vend. : Alright sir, take it. Adh. : I will take it for the sixteenth part of a cow. Vend. : Sir, king Soma deserves more than that, Adh. : The cow is also very much valuable. It gives lis milk,
curd, butter and ghrta etc.
The vendor and the adhvaryu repeat their least dialogues four times each. But each time the priest raises his share each beginning from a safa (hoof) to pada (foot), then to half of the cow and finally the whole of a cow. Each time, the Soma-vikrayin insists on saying that 'the King Soma deserves more than that'. Ultimately the bargain is settled, and the ad hvaryu also purchases Nyagrodha plant from the vendor. Offering him some gold for the payment. The vendor then approaches the alter to offer his salutations to the gods and just as he rises to return, the party of the priests pounces upon him unawares, snatches away the gold in his possession and the poor fellow is beaten with a staff.”
The enactment of this dialogue might have been a good entertainment for the assembly gathered on the occasion of the Yajña. The depiction of the covetuousness and greed of the vendor and the scene of his thrashing might have aroused popular feelings, considering the daily need of Soina in life of Vedic Aryans and their difficulty in its acquisition.