of the expressions used in some of the more mystic hymns. The process of identification may have been brought about by the practice of calling the soma celestial and bright, as dispelling the darkness and dwelling in the water, and also by naming it the drop. This may easily enough have given rise to the concept that the soma was the drop-like moon, and so soma in the bowls is actually said to be like the moon in the waters. It has been held that Soma in the Ṛgveda as a deity is really the moon, the receptacle of the ambrosia, which is revealed on earth in the form of the soma that is used in the ritual. This view, however, runs counter to native tradition, which still realizes the distinction between Soma and the moon in the Ṛgveda, and to the clear language of the texts.
Comparison with the Avesta shows that in Iran also the plant was crushed and mixed with milk, and that in Iran, as in India, the celestial soma is distinguished from the terrestrial, and the drink from the god: it grows on a mountain and is brought by an eagle; it gives light, slays demons, and bestows blessings; but whereas in India the first preparers were two, Vivasvant and Trita Āptya,in Iran they are three, Vīvanghvant, Āthwya, and Thrita.[1] Possibly the conception goes back to an older period, to the nectar in the shape of honey mead brought down from heaven by an eagle from its guardian demon, this hypothesis being confirmed by the legend of the nectar brought by the eagle of Zeus and the mead carried off by the eagle metamorphosis of Odhin.
In comparison with the celestial waters the terrestrial rivers play little part in the Ṛgveda. In one hymn (x. 75) the Sindhu, or Indus, is celebrated with its tributaries, and another hymn (ii. 33) lauds the Vipāś, or Beas, and the Śutudrī, or Sutlej. The Sarasvatī, however, is often praised in terms of hyperbole as treading with her waves the peaks of the mountains, as sevenfold, best of mothers, of rivers, and of goddesses. Even a celestial origin is ascribed to her, an anticipation of the later myth of the heavenly birth of the Ganges. With the
- ↑ See infra, pp. 265, 282.
