Soma

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For the pharmaceutical drug also known as Soma, see carisoprodol.

Soma (also called Haoma) was an Indo-Iranian psychoactive ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Greater Indian and Greater Iranian cultures. It is described as being prepared by extracting the juice from a plant, the identity of which is now unknown and debated among scholars. In both Hinduism and Zoroastrianism, the name of the drink and the plant are the same, and also personified as a divinity.

Hom (Haoma) barsom, Museum for Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara

There has been much speculation concerning what is most likely to have been the identity of the original plant. There is no consensus on the question, although some proposed candidates include Amanita muscaria, Psilocybe cubensis, Peganum harmala, and Ephedra sinica.

See also

• Amanita muscaria
• Psilocybe cubensis
• Peganum harmala
• Biological sources

References

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