AYA2014 - Matthew Clark. The botanical identity of the soma/haoma plant

Matthew Clark, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, SOAS (affiliate)

The Vedas, which were composed between approximately 1,500 BCE and 800 BCE, are texts comprising invocatory hymns and mantras that are recited during rituals performed by priests (Brahmans) in South Asia. The oldest of the four Vedas is the Rg Veda, in which many of the mantras are dedicated to soma, which is described both as an intoxicating plant and as a deity. The same plant/deity (haoma) is also revered in Zoroastrian religion. The botanical identity of the soma/haoma plant has long puzzled scholars; dozens of propositions have been made in the last 250 years. Currently, three of the alternative propositions are generally endorsed by various academics. In 1968 the famous mycophile Gordon Wasson suggested that soma was the fly agaric mushroom, amanita muscaria. However, textual descriptions of soma in the Vedas largely undermine this theory. In 1989 Flattery and Schwarz proposed peganum harmala. Then, in a well-reasoned article also published in 1989, the German Indologist Harry Falk revived an old theory and presented considerable evidence that soma was the ephedra plant. In this paper I revisit the issue of the botanical identity of soma/haoma and suggest, alternatively, that soma may have not been a single plant, but a combination of plants producing a form of ayahuasca (or ’anahuasca’).