Finnian Moore Gerety: Soma Sounds - Psychedelic Soundscapes in Early India

Finnian Moore Gerety: Soma Sounds: Sanskrit Mantras, Hindu Ritual, and Psychedelic Soundscapes in Early India

The visuals afforded by psychedelic experiences—light, images, and patterns—get plenty of attention. Arguably just as compelling, though, are sonic and auditory phenomena: supernatural voices, noises, vibrations, and music.

This talk offers a case study in psychedelic soundscapes from early India; the sources are ancient Hindu rites where the central sacrament is plant-based beverage called soma. Although nowadays soma, whose botanical identity remains contested, is celebrated as one of the world’s oldest psychedelics, scant attention has been given to the rites attending its use, which have been continuously practiced in India since the late Bronze Age.

The praxis and phenomenology of soma rituals emphasize sound and speech: priests pound and press the plant matter, filter its juice, blend with dairy and vegetal substances, and quaff in goblets—interspersed with offerings into fire altars and the chanting of Sanskrit mantras in praise of the gods. The mantras themselves, traditionally regarded as divine speech, include metrical verses recited in a stentorian register, and strings of non-semantic syllables set to melismatic melodies.

Drawing on Sanskrit texts of the first millennium BCE alongside rituals in contemporary south India (where a non-psychoactive substituted is now used), I argue that soundscapes—both audible, internal, and in-between—are central to the history of this mysterious substance. Soma sounds remain a largely untapped source of data, offering the potential for cross-cultural comparison (e.g., ayahuasca chants in Amazonian shamanism) and further insights into the nature of soma experience.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Oxford Psychedelic Society