Devalok
God · All traditions · Pan-India

Soma

Also called: Indu, Pavamana, King Soma, Chandra, Chandramas

In the Rigveda Soma is a mountain plant, the tawny juice pressed from it and the god who is both; the whole ninth book (114 hymns) and six other hymns are his, third after Indra and Agni. He is the drink of the gods and of Indra before battle, a poet and guide, lord of plants, brought from the highest heaven by a falcon. A few late hymns (10.85) place him among the constellations; in the Brahmanas King Soma is the moon, the food of the gods, and in the epics and Puranas Soma is a name of Chandra, the moon god, husband of the twenty-seven star sisters and father of Budha. The KB entity chandra is the same god under his later name.

Sources: Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer; Vedic Mythology, A. A. Macdonell (1897); The Satapatha-Brahmana, tr. Julius Eggeling (Sacred Books of the East 12, 41); The Vishnu Purana, tr. H. H. Wilson (1840) · see Soma's web

Relations 16

Soma child of

  • Apas (God)
    The Waters are called the mothers of Soma (RV 9.61.4) and also his sisters (RV 9.82.3).
  • Parjanya (God)
    Parjanya is the father of the mighty bird, that is of Soma.
  • Surya (God)
    Soma is once called the offspring of the Sun (RV 9.93.1).

Soma consort of

Soma celebrated at

Soma cursed by

Soma blessed by

Soma devotee of

Soma form of

  • Chandra (God)
    In post-Vedic literature Soma is a regular name of the moon. Macdonell finds no clear case of this in the Rigveda outside a few late hymns; Hillebrandt held that Soma is the moon throughout book 9.

Soma parent of

Soma sibling of

  • Agni (God)
    The Shatapatha Brahmana (11.1.6.19) speaks of Agni and Soma as brothers.

Soma worshipped by

Stories 15

Cited