Anthropological
Perspective (Part One)
Case: Soma – Mushroom of Immortality
Question: What is Soma in the Hindu Rig Veda?
Researcher: R. Gordon Wasson
The case study of Soma is offered as an example of
how the Anthropological Perspective (AP), which will be defined in Part
Two, was use to break the code of Soma.
During the 1800s and early 1900s, Westerners began
to take an interest in Eastern arts and literature. Many texts were translated, including the Rig Veda, which
was translated from the original Sanskrit into English, French and German. The Rig Veda is the world’s oldest
religious text and can be thought of as the “Old Testament” of Hindu
tradition. Translators found that over
ten percent of the verses of the Rig Veda are dedicated to the praise of
Soma, a combination of god, plant and juice of the plant. The problem arises – What is Soma?
British researcher R. Gordon Wasson was drawn into
the Soma question through a conversation with his new Russian wife, Valentina,
during their honeymoon. During a walk
through the woods, Valentina gathered what she thought to be a beautiful
bouquet of mushrooms. Wasson was
appalled by what he saw as a pile of dirty toadstools. This led to their first fight and,
eventually, to an in-depth conversation about how mushrooms are viewed by
different cultures.
They set out to explore this phenomenon, and after
some research, divided the world into cultures that are mycophilic and cultures
that are mycophobic. They found that
Slavic cultures tended to be mycophilic, that is they viewed mushrooms with an
affinity, whereas English/Germanic cultures were mycophobic, viewing mushrooms
with revulsion. Wasson’s research led
him to the Rig Veda, and the hypothesis that Soma is the amanita
muscaria, or fly agaric mushroom.
Aware that in the mycophobic English-speaking world
his assertion that Soma was actually a psychedelic mushroom would be met with
much resistance, Wasson compiled a mountain of evidence for his book. After much controversy and a decade of
scholarly debate, the academic world finally accepted that Soma was the amanita
muscaria.
Wasson’s work went beyond simply answering the Soma
question. It opened up the traditional
anthropological view by forcing scholars to look at ethnobotanical questions in
a new, less ethnocentric way. It also
contributed to the founding a new area of study – that of the role of
hallucinogens in culture. Wasson’s
research has inspired others to take a fresh look at the role of datura in the
practices of European witches, the connection between the Santa Clause myth and
amanita muscaria, and the role of yage (visionary vine) in Amazon
shamanism.
Key
Words:
Rig
Veda – an
ancient Hindu religious text composed approximately 4000 years ago.
Soma
– a plant-god praised throughout the Rig Veda, identified by R. Gordon
Wasson as the amanita muscaria mushroom.
Shamanism
– archaic techniques of ecstasy, from the Greek extasis meaning trance
or flight of the soul.
Related
Areas of Study:
mycology; hallucinogens and culture, ethno-botany, pharmacology, medical
anthropology.
Recommended
Readings:
Peter Furst, Hallucinogens and Culture.
R. Gordon Wasson, Soma.