“This is no Hollow Work” – A study of the Vena Cava
Journal of Anatomical Society of India September 1, 2015 Biju Urumese Pallatty, Asha Joselet Mathew, T.s. Tintu
The ancient Rigvedic Soma, an exhilarating gold-colored elixir of the Hindu gods, has long eluded botanical identification. Analyzing two 6th-century Amrita recipes from the Bower Manuscript—a Sanskrit medical treatise—reveals around 100 herbal ingredients, including psychoactive alkaloid-containing species such as Tinospora cordifolia, Mucuna pruriens, and Nelumbo nucifera. These plants contain tryptamines, ephedrine, ibogaine, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The authors propose that Soma was a combination of Tinospora cordifolia juice with MAO-I properties mixed with Desmodium gangeticum (tryptamine-rich) for psychedelic visual effects, or with Sida spp. (ephedrine-rich) for amphetamine-like euphoria. This suggests the psychoactive Soma ingredients were preserved in smaller proportions within these later medicinal recipes.