Imagine, thousands of years ago you are present in one of the eras of ancient times of Indian civilization. You are looking for a special type of plant in the mountains with your friends, in the moon’s-light on the night of the Shukla Paksha. After Collecting it in large quantities, you put it in a cart, there two sheeps drags it to the sacrificial place. The priest of the sacrificial spot takes those plants to a solitary cell, where they are cleaned and their roots are crushed on the stones. A large container has a lot of unn put on it. The powdered coating is inserted on them, from which the juice is dripping in the container.After the completion of this process, the priest chants the mantras and adds milk and various types of grains solution in the container which begins the fermentation process. This yeast makes that juice intoxicants. It is ‘Somras’. Apart from the priest, no one else knows what the mantra is for the creation of that juice, and in which proportion matter is mixed and in which phase. But this drink is the best beverage prepared for the event, which will be given to the most respected guest.In the Rig Veda, there is very picturesque description of the construction of Som Ras. In our mythological texts written about fifteen hundred to thousand years ago before christ, it is found that it is related to Aryan deities like Indra, Varuna and Agni and the rishis like Angiras, Jupiter and Gautam. It is also related to worshiping of moon god or Som.
Like the ancient civilizations of Greece, Egypt and Babylonian, there is a great status of Som Ras in Indian civilization. It was kept safe in bags made from animal skins. It was offered to the holy people. In some places it was also available to the general public. Its marketing is also mentioned somewhere. But the method of making it was known only to the elitist class. In an ancient India study conducted on the use of Somras, it has been reported that “In Rig ved it is considered as health builder, making us fearless and paves the way for heaven”. Summary of this research done jointly by Ottlingam Somasundaram, D Vijay Raghavan and AJ Tejas Murthy is available in the January, March 2016 issue of the Indian Journal of Psychiatry.Due to its psychic effects on man’s sense and consciousness, later it became popular in various names like liquor and wine. In the days of our ancient civilization it was felt that ordinary people could not handle it. Due to excessive addiction, they lose control over themselves and undermine them. As the Manu Smriti era approached it became a barred drink . It has been clearly written in Manu Smriti that the king should stop its marketing immediately and never consume it.
Dr. Bal Mukund