ABSTRACT
In Rig-Veda, one of the oldest repositories of human knowledge, a long-cherished substance of the vedic people, somras, the soma juice, is mentioned. Out of over 1,000 hymns in Rig-Veda, 120 are devoted exclusively to soma. It was a god-narcotic of ancient Indians, which attained an exhalted place in the magico-religious ceremonies of the Aryans (Schultes and Hofmann, 1992). For a long time, it was considered by some to be a herb, the juice of which could lead to the attainment of superhuman power. It was a divine bliss, which gave pleasure to human beings. It was a juice of immortality, comparable to present day tonics, ambrosia, nectar, elixir, panacea or the most recently introduced adaptogens, smart drugs or mood elevators. According to Schultes and Hofmann (1992) when the culture changed from hunting to pastoralism and agriculture, the use of soma died out and was forgotten long ago, so its source became a mystery.
