{"product_id":"9781908995223","title":"The Tawny One: Soma, Haoma, and Ayahuasca","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSuggests that soma\/haoma was probably originally a psychedelic drink made from plants with a chemistry similar to ayahuasca.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe identity of the plant known as \u003ci\u003esoma\u003c\/i\u003e in ancient India and as \u003ci\u003ehaoma\u003c\/i\u003e in the Zoroastrian tradition has, for around 250 years, exercised the wits and imagination of scores of scholars. This plant is praised in the highest terms—as a kind of deity—in both Zoroastrian and Vedic texts that date from around 1,700–1,500 BCE. It is said to provide health, power, wisdom, and even immortality. It has been variously identified by researchers as a nonpsychoactive plant, as a medicine, as merely water, as alcoholic, as a narcotic, as a stimulant, and as a psychedelic. Currently, the three most supported theories are that \u003ci\u003esoma\/haoma\u003c\/i\u003e was either fly-agaric mushrooms, ephedra, or Syrian rue. The author suggests that the ritual drink was based on analogues of \u003ci\u003eayahuasca\u003c\/i\u003e, using a variety of plants, some of which he identifies in the book.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Muswell Hill Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47040055771376,"sku":"9781908995223","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781908995223_p0.jpg?v=1763622489","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781908995223","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}