Iranian Haoma and Indian Suma

Iranian ‘Haoma’ and Indian ‘Suma’ are the most ancient mythical elements that are common between ancient civilizations of Iran and India. In ancient myths, ‘Haoma’ or ‘Suma’ was the name of a holy plant from whose extract Iranians and Indians made sanative syrup. In ‘Rig Veda’ and ‘Avesta’ it has been described through praise and admiration. To gain the extract of this plant was one of the best deeds, but gradually the belief in sanative and magical properties of ‘Haoma (Suma)’ caused the spreading of its role among Indian and Iranian peoples, and considerable differences appeared in the nature of ‘Haoma’ and ‘Suma’. This change in the nature of Indian ‘Suma’ was greater than that of Iranian ‘Haoma’. In this research study, carried out by the use of descriptive-analytical method, the place of ‘Suma’ in the ancient Indians’ civilization is studied. In order to provide a better explanation, we have introduced ‘Haoma’ in Iranian civilization briefly, and then various aspects of ‘Suma’ in Indian civilization have been introduced. The result of this study is suggestive of commonalities between Indian and Iranian ‘Suma’. Moreover, it shows that the changes in the nature of ‘Soma’ myth have been more than ‘Haoma’; in fact, Indian ‘Suma’ has gradually been degenerated and appeared as a god, man, even as the heavenly moon; therefore, it has changed greater than Iranian ‘Haoma’ and has found a more mythological form.