title: Soma of the Rigveda and an attempt to identify it.
abstract: Ephedra juice is used as the drink of longevity given even to the new born. This is an Aryan custom mentioned in Rigveda and followed even by the Romans. To trace the history of this custom would lead to identifying Soma = Ephedra. The original species of Ephedra or Soma proper would be Ephedra sinica, the Chinese plant. It is the one species with yellow stalks. This has been illustrated so that it confirms Rigveda speaking of Soma as "golden yellow." The name Soma is also a loan word from Chinese meaning "fire-yellow fibers of hemp." The plant Soma is described as "thousand boughs" and photographic evidence has been offered in support. Each stalk is rod-like resembling an arrow as Rigveda speaks of it. An illustration has been offered to show the plant with stalks which are straight and rod-like, comparable with an arrow.
authors.affiliation: SD-34, Block A, North Nazimabad, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahdihassan
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Mehdi
mesh_terms: D001901:Botany; D049690:History, Ancient; D008515:Medicine, Ayurvedic / Q000266:history; D010946:Plants, Medicinal