Soma Rasa

When the British Bombay Government launched a manuscripts collection programme in 1866 and collected about 17000 manuscripts through Bhandarkar Oriental Institute of Pune with the help of British and Indian researchers, the major collection received from Kashmir, Rajputana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, South India and Central provinces in different scripts. Their analysis suggests their origination from present day Haryana, Punjab (both) and northwestern region of the subcontinent. 

Mandala 2-7 are the most ancient, followed by 8-9, 1 and 10. Within 2-7, the order is 6, 3, 7, 4, 2, 5, followed by 8, 9, 1, 10. 

2-Gritsamada-Punjab-Sapta Sindhu, 3-Vishvamitra-Sarasvati region- eastern Punjab; 4-Vaman’s Gautama-Northwest Punjab; 5-Atri-Punjab-Haryana; 6-Bhardwaj-Sarasvati-Drishadvati-; 7-Vashishtha-Punjab-Sarasvati Basin; 8-Kanva Angiras- Northwest India; 9- many families; 10- eastern development; 1- composite collection from various traditions.

Commentary of Sayana in 14th century and Vijayanagar Empire Scholarly system was the major source. 

The Vedas already existed as living oral traditions. The colonial-era work mainly: centralized manuscripts, printed comparative editions, created catalogues, preserved texts that might otherwise have decayed.

Mandal-9 of Soma is organised around Soma.

Soma was simultaneously: a sacred plant, a ritual drink, a deity, a cosmic principle. The Soma juice was extracted, filtered and offered during Vedic yajnas.

The hymns of Mandala 9 describe: pressing Soma, purification through wool filters, flowing streams, intoxication, divine inspiration, immortality, ecstatic consciousness. Mandala 9 is not a “family book” but a ritual anthology. This is why scholars believe it was compiled later than the main family mandalas, even though some hymns inside it may be very ancient.

Interestingly, the heritage of most of the major and ancient Mandalas of the Rigveda can be associated with the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent — including present-day Punjab, Kashmir and parts of Pakistan — since many of the sage family traditions connected with these Mandalas belonged to that geographical and cultural region.

Most of the ancient Mandalas of the Rigveda carry distinct family traditions, but the Soma Mandala draws hymns from many traditions and priestly lineages.

Soma also has links with the Iranian Haoma tradition — the same linguistic shift from “S” to “H” that made us “”Hindu” instead of “Sindhu”.

Whether Soma was a plant, a ritual drink, a deity or a cosmic principle is still debated. But as the Soma Mandala progresses, Soma gradually transforms into light, inspiration, divine mind, immortality and cosmic flow.

Indian astrology later placed Soma — the Moon — as the ruler of the human mind, while Ayurveda connected lunar energy with plant life, bodily fluids and reproductive cycles.

Ancient people saw the Moon moving oceans outside and emotions inside — probably why “lunatics” were blamed on the full moon long before modern stress and smartphones arrived.

It is also possible that early Vedic yajnas involved sacrificial traditions, where ritual drinks accompanied communal feasts and ceremonies.

Babur’s Baburnama does describe mountain regions of the Himalayas and a tribe from one region wandering with magic flasks filled with fermented fruit drink around their necks and enjoying sips.

So somewhere between Vedic yajnas, Himalayan brews and modern wine culture, humanity seems to have preserved one uninterrupted civilizational principle: a mysterious drink has an extraordinary ability to make people feel divine, poetic and philosophical.😁

Humans, however, often adopt the physical substance first and only later begin searching for the cosmic order behind it.

26 May 2026