Indian Alchemy: Soma in the Veda by S. Kalyanaraman, Book announcement

[Guest guest]

Srinivasan Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@g...> wrote:

S. Kalyanaraman, 2004, Indian Alchemy: Soma in the Veda, Delhi,

Munshiram Manoharlal: Dy. 346p. 2004. Rs.650

 

>From the blurb at http://www.mrmlbooks.com/

 

The book is an epoch-making work-a paradigm-shift in Vedic

studies-which identifies soma as electrum (gold-silver metallic

compound). Soma is referred to in the Rgveda as the soul of the yajna

(atmayajnasya). The path-breaking identification is based on textual

evidence and a penetrating analysis of the Indian alchemical

tradition, spanning nearly five millennia. The author is also the

discoverer of the integrating role played by the mighty Sarasvati

river adored in the Rgveda as the best of mothers, best of rivers and

best of goddesses. Sarasvati and soma are no longer mythology but

relevant to present-day children, respectively, as the repository of

groundwater sanctuaries in north-west India and the metallurgical

tradition starting with the Bronze Age Civilization, c. 3000 BC.

Sarasvati and soma are the symbols of the great Indian traditions of

devi worship and personification and deification of natural, material

phenomena. The tirthas along the rivers are reminders of the critical

nature of water management problems all over India and soma as an

integral part of the yajna process, is the embodiment of the

scientific, technological and materialist temper of ancient India.

--- End forwarded message ---