Satapatha Bramhana Part 02

Author(s): Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford

Page 29

xxvi
SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.
it was impossible for me to drink more than some teaspoonfuls. In fact, several varieties of Sarcostemma or Asclepiads, somewhat different from those of Persia and Afghanistan, which are not to be found so far south, seem to have been, and indeed seem still to be, made use of for the Soma-sacrifice. And notwithstanding the objections raised by Dr. G. Watt, in his useful .Notes,' appended to the translation of Professor Roth's papers, every probability seems to me to be in favour of the identity of the original Soma-plant with the shrub, the stalks of which are used by the Pårsîs in preparing their Hom juice, or with some other plant of the same genus. It certainly would seem to have been a plant with soft, succulent stems. Dr. Watt remarks, 'We know of no instance of a succulent plant retaining, for weeks or months, its sap within isolated twigs, and, indeed, we can recall but few plants which could withstand, even for a day or two, the dry climate of India, so as to retain the sap within their isolated and cut twigs.' But, though at the time of the Vedic hymns fresh and juicy plants were probably used for the preparation of the sacred drink, in later times, when the plants had to be conveyed some considerable distance into India, the withered and shrunk plants were apparently found, with the admixture of water and other ingredients, to serve the same purpose. For we know from the description given in the Satras, that water was poured on the plants previously to their being beaten with the pressing-stones. This moistening or steeping is called apyâyanam, or 'the making the plants) swell.' After being then well beaten and bruised, they were thrown into the vat, or rather trough, partly filled with water, and were pressed out with the hand. Dr. Watt thinks Professor Roth ought rather to have published briefly the leading passages in the hymns descriptive of the plant, from which naturalists might have drawn their own conclusions. One might as well ask a Hebrew
· Especially Sarcostemma intermedium, S. brevistigma, and S. viminale (or Asclepias acida). See R. Roth, Zeitsch. der D. Morg. Ges. vol. xxxv, p. 681 seq.
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