The Rig Veda Blog
Journeys into Vedic Thought
Long-form, researched essays on the deities, language, ritual and history of the Rig Veda. All free to read.
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A Hundred Jars from a Horse's Hoof: The Rigveda's Other Intoxicant
The Rigveda devotes an entire book to soma. It mentions surā, the grain beer people actually drank, in seven verses, and two of those are disputed. The silence turns out to be the most informative thing about it.
Sweetness Before Sugar: Honey, Bees, and the Secret the Aśvins Stole
The Rigveda has no word for sugar. It has madhu, honey, roughly 250 times, and in four strange verses an actual bee shows up carrying a secret. Following that word leads to wild honey hunting, a severed horse's head, and a drink the Vedic poets may have lost.