it was brought from the
sky, the home of the gods; above all, of the luminous gods, which the
yellow _soma_ resembled. Such was the Hindu belief, and from this as a
starting-point appears to have come the gradual identification of
_soma_ with the moon, now called Soma. For the moon, even under the
name of Gandharva, is not the object of especial worship.

The question so ably discussed by Hillebrandt is, however, one of
considerable importance from the point of view of the religious
development. If _soma_ from the beginning was the moon, then there is
only one more god of nature to add to the pantheon. But if, as we
believe in the light of the Avesta and Veda itself, _soma_ like
_haoma_, was originally the drink-plant (the root _su_ press, from
which comes _soma_, implies the plant), then two important facts
follow. First, in the identification of yellow _soma_-plant with
yellow moon in the latter stage of the Rig Veda (which coincides with
the beginning of the Brahmanic period) there is a striking
illustration of the gradual mystical elevation of religion at the
hands of the priests, to whom it appeared indecent that mere drink
should be exalted thus; and secondly, there is the significant fact
that in the Indic and Iranian cult there was a direct worship of
deified liquor, analogous to Dionysiac rites, a worship which is not
unparalleled in other communities. Again, the surprising identity of
worship in Avesta and Veda, and the fact that hymns to the earlier
deities, Dawn, Parjanya, etc, are frequently devoid of any relation to
the _soma_-cult not only show that Bergaigne's opinion that the whole
Rig Veda is but a collection of hymns for _soma_-worship as handed
down in different families must be modified; but also that, as we have
explained _apropos_ of Varuna, the Iranian cult must have branched off
from the Vedic cult (whether, as Haug thought, on account of a
religious schism or not); that the hymns to the less popular deities
(as we have defined the word) make the first period of Vedic cult; and
that the special liquor-cult, common to Iran and India, arose after
the first period of Vedic worship, when, for example, Wind, Parjanya,
and Varuna were at their height, and before the priests had exalted
mystically Agni or Soma, and even Indra was as yet undeveloped.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: viii. 38. 4; i. 108. 3; Bergaigne, ii. 293.]

[Footnote 2: On th