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24 gods. In later times an endless amount of pomp, ceremony, and detail was woven about this rite of the horse-sacrifice, in contrast to the simplicity of Vedic days.

The fermented juice of the plant called Soma appears to have been the only intoxicating drink used in Vedic times. So much were the ancient Aryans addicted to this drink, that Soma was soon worshipped as a deity both in India and in Iran (under the name Haoma in the latter country), and we find one entire Mandala, or Book, of the Rig-Veda, dedicated to this deity. The Aryans appear to have been more habituated to fermented and intoxicating Soma than their peaceful brethren of Iran, and some allusions in the Avesta are thought to refer to the hated customs of their Indian brethren. Some antiquarians think that this was one great reason of those dissensions which broke out among the southern Aryans and led to the final separation of the Iranians from the Hindus.

The process by which the Soma juice was prepared is fully described in the sixty-sixth hymn of the ninth book of the Rig-Veda, from which the following verses are selected:-