There has been much speculation as to the botanical identity of soma or haoma. Soma is a plant described in Hindu sacred texts including the Rigveda, while haoma is a plant described in the Avesta, a collection of Zoroastrian writings. Both names are derived from the Proto-Indo-Iranian *Sauma.
Soma/Haoma is considered to be a concoction of multiple ingredients instead of one plant, however the primary botanical plant and active ingredient is debated. In the past 250 years scholars have tried to identify this, with proposed candidates including various species of plants and or fungi. The leading scholarly consensus on the botanical identity of soma/haoma has been Ephedra (particularly Ephedra gerardiana, Ephedra intermedia, or Ephedra equisetina). Other theories currently endorse that soma/haoma was either fly-agaric mushrooms or Syrian rue. Furthermore, Ephedra has historically been the most purported due to being called som/hom/hum in South and Central Asian languages. Ephedra geradiana in particular was called Somalata (moon plant) in Sanskrit.
Researchers also suggest other plants with and without psychoactive properties, such as the perennial Peganum harmala, Nelumbo nucifera (also known as the "sacred lotus"), Cannabis sativa, the sugarcane species Tripidium bengalense (synonym Saccharum sara), the grass Phalaris aquatica, and the devil's-trumpet plant Datura metel. Fungal candidates include the fly-agaric mushroom Amanita muscaria, the psilocybin-containing mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, and the ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea. Soma/haoma has been described as being mixed with other substances (e.g. fermented mare's milk or fermented honey). Srauta Brahmins called Somayajis use Cynanchum acidum today.
Background Avesta
Since the late 18th-century, when Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron and others made portions of the Zoroastrian Avesta available to Western scholarship, several scholars have sought a representative botanical equivalent of the haoma as described in the texts and as used in living Zoroastrian practice. Most of the proposed identifications have drawn primarily upon either linguistic evidence, comparative pharmacology, or reflected ritual use, but not all three: rarely have all three sources of evidence been considered in conjunction. Such unbalanced approaches to the problem of identity have resulted usually in the speedy rejection of these poorly-substantiated theories.
Vedas The Rigveda calls the plant soma, and gives it precedence above Indra and the other Gods calling soma "a God for Gods".
Based on , Soma has been generally assumed to be entheogenic. (Note, there are numerous similar references in the Vedas, e.g. , , , , ) Some descriptions of soma are associated with tapas (heat, excitement, "energy"). Soma is associated with the warrior-god Indra, and appears to have been drunk before battle. For these reasons, there are stimulant (ephedrine-like) plants as well as entheogenic plants among the candidates that have been suggested. Soma is also often associated with light and Indra is the "Lord of Light" as shown in
Texts like the Atharva Veda (and also texts of the Brahmana class) extol the medicinal properties of soma and it was regarded as the king of medicinal herbs.
Account of Swami Rama In his autobiography, Swami Rama recalls contacting an Indian herbologist and Vedic scholar named Vaidya Bhairavdutt, who is described as "the only living authority on soma". Bhairavdutt comes to visit the swami, bringing about a pound of the herb with him. He informs the swami that though the plant's effects can be likened to that of psychedelic mushrooms, it is definitely not a mushroom, but rather a succulent plant. Bhairavdutt convinces the swami to join him in partaking the soma. The taste, says Swami Rama, is "a little bit bitter and sour." Bhairavdutt becomes inebriated and dances wildly, claiming he is Shiva. Several students attempt to restrain the apparently slightly built Bhairavdutt, but are unable to do so. Meanwhile, Swami Rama develops a crippling headache, a symptom which is compatible with the effects of high doses of ephedrine. No hallucinogenic effects are described by Swami Rama.
Candidates for the identity of Soma/Haoma Plants Cynanchum acidum
When Vedic rituals such as the somayaga are held today, traditionally in unbroken continuity in Southern India by Srauta Brahmins called Somayajis, the herb used is Somalata ('Moon creeper') Cynanchum acidum, a leafless plant that grows in arid places in peninsular India. This plant is known as the somalata (“soma plant”) in Ayurveda and Siddha medicine.
Ephedra
A candidate favoured by proponents of the non-hallucinogenic / stimulant hypothesis is a species of Ephedra. Ephedrine, the principle active compound present in this plant, has a chemical structure similar to those of the amphetamines, and, when ingested, causes, among other effects, high blood-pressure. According to anecdotal reports, it also possesses a stimulating effect similar to that of caffeine.
In the late 19th century, the highly conservative Zoroastrians of Yazd province in Iran were found to be using Ephedra, (known locally known as hum or homa) which they were also exporting to their fellow Zoroastrians in India.J.E.T. Aitchison, "The botany of the Afghan delimitation commission" Trans. LinnEan Soc. of London., 1888. The plant, as Falk also established, requires a cool (but not cold) and dry climate and thus will not grow in India (which is too hot and/or too humid) but will thrive in central Asia. Ephedra distachya is native to southern Europe and northern Asia. Later, it was discovered that a number of Iranian languages and Persian dialects have hom or similar terms as the local name for some variant of Ephedra.
Ephedra plants are shrubs, measuring between 0.2 and 4 meters, with numerous green or yellowish stems. There are about 30 species, mainly Eurasian. The species growing in mountainous regions have the highest ephedrine content (up to 3% in the case of Ephedra equisetina). The colour of the stem pith of certain Ephedra species is brown, recalling the Sanskrit epithet babhru ("greyish-brown"), used exclusively in the Vedas to describe the colour of the extract produced by pounding the stems of the soma plant.
The different species of Ephedra are not well known, and their taxonomy is in a state of confusion. Assuming a Pontic-Caspian home of Indo-Iranian religions (see Kurgan), the only likely candidate is E. distachya, still used in Iranian folk medicine.
The native name for Ephedra in most Indo-Iranian languages of Central Asia is derived from *sauma- (e.g. Nepali somalata, Pashto Oman/unan, Baluchi hum/huma/uma).
In 1989, in a highly influential text, Harry Falk pointed out that both the Flattery and Wasson arguments assumed that haoma was hallucinogenic, although the effect desired by Zoroastrian and Vedic ritual use was not. Falk noted that, in the texts, both haoma and soma were said to enhance alertness and awareness, did not coincide with the consciousness altering effects of an entheogen, and that "there is nothing shamanistic or visionary either in early Vedic or in Old Iranian texts,"} nor could the small doses administered in living Zoroastrian custom justify its consideration as an inebriant. Living custom also does not give the extract enough time to ferment, ruling out the possibility of any intoxicating effect dependent upon the presence of alcohol.
Falk established that the effect of the alkaloid ephedrine was, in many respects, similar to adrenaline, but "its actions are less intense but more prolonged than those of adrenaline, and, most important, it prevents sleeping." Chemically, ephedrine is similar to amphetamine (amphetamine itself originating as an innovative "upgrade" of an ephedrine prototypical base). Falk also asserted that the three varieties of ephedra that yield ephedrine (E. gerardiana, E. major procera and E. intermedia) also have the properties attributed to haoma by the texts of the Avesta.
In 1994, Viktor Sarianidi claimed that ancient ritual objects found at BMAC archeological sites in Central Asia bore traces of Ephedra stalks and Papaver (poppy) seeds. In 1995, Harri Nyberg investigated the specimens provided by Sarianidi but could not confirm the claim.
Another site provided material which Sarianidi had declared contained traces of Ephedra, Papaver, and Cannabis (hemp) in 1998–1999. It was analysed in 2002–2003 by three independent teams, but they found no traces of the claimed contents.
Nonetheless, in the conclusion of his observations on the 1999 haoma-soma workshop in Leiden, Jan E. M. Houben writes that "[d]espite strong attempts to do away with Ephedra by those who are eager to see *sauma as a hallucinogen, its status as a serious candidate for the Rigvedic soma and Avestan haoma still stands." This supports Falk, who in his summary noted that "there is no need to look for a plant other than Ephedra, the one plant used to this day by the Parsis".
Peganum harmala
In 1989, David Flattery, with linguistic support from Martin Schwarz, concentrated again on Iranian haoma. The two paid particular attention to the hallucinogenic properties that may be interpreted from the texts, and discounted Ephedra because they could not observe Zoroastrian priests becoming intoxicated. They concluded that it was "therefore neither likely that Ephedra was a substitute for *sauma nor that it was *sauma itself" and that the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine alkaloids extracted from Ephedra had to be mixed with the extract from some other plant to achieve the described effects. Flattery proposed the second plant was Peganum harmala (harmal, harmel, Syrian rue, see also harmaline), known in Iranian languages as esfand, sepand or other similar terms related to Avestan word spenta ('sacred', 'holy'). Flattery considered harmel to be the real haoma, with Ephedra only being the secondary ingredient in the parahaoma mixture.
Another factor involved in favouring Peganum harmala as the identity of soma-haoma is the use of plants with a similar chemistry (notably Banisteriopsis caapi) by certain South American cultures to prepare hallucinogenic drinks in which the plants' harmala alkaloids serve to potentiate the effects of other ingredients. The Iranian flora is not rich in true hallucinogenic species - P. harmala is the only incense plant with hallucinogenic properties in Iran and the only one which could activate normally inactive compounds present in certain other Iranian plants. Such Peganum-containing drinks could have furnished intoxicants compatible with the purported role of the drink described in the Indo-Iranian texts (as understood by proponents of the hallucinogen hypothesis).
Peganum harmala contains harmaline, which is a strong MAO-inhibitor, and it is therefore often used as a first component in modern practices modelled on ayahuasca ceremonies, in which (as with the Banisteriopsis component of the traditional South American drink) its alkaloids inhibit the metabolisation of an orally administered DMT molecule (2nd component). Since co-occurrence of DMT-bearing Phalaris grass and the MAOI-rich Peganum harmala has been observed at Yazd, Persepolis, Merv and Termez,Hromada, Daniel Devatman (2015),The Somahuasca Hypothesis the hypothesis stating that soma/haoma was a biochemical Eurasian correlate of ayahuasca cannot be excluded a priori.
Nelumbo nucifera