Vedic Fire Altars
Vedic Fire Altars
Vedic Fire Altars
Soma
.l
Som.rwas the favourite rlrink of Vcdic Aryans The idcntilici'l i()rI
il
the roma plant ith ephedra has been proposed' It is argu(rd llrrl
i"4
was in all iikelihood thc plant thejuice of l'hich tlas roma Rerrr:rirrs
"l
plant in sorne of the pottery vessels from Gonur were chenri( irlll
this
exarnined and erc identified as ephedra but N)'berg ( 191)5)<otrltl
irl
I not {ind it in his analysis.Aurel Stein is said to hale fo[nd cPhc(trir
I is s i
the coursc of his exploratrons in Central Asia ivhich 2000 veat 'lt
()ll llr('
Four differert species of the plant (Eqhedra(tJnathJ/t) occu'
(lhilral rrrrrI
hiliy slopes of north lndia, Afghanistan, han, Hindukush,
Baluchiitan (Kochhar 1999: 109) It is Presentty brought br lhc I'i"si\
t'l
of India from lran lbr their rituals (Bailey 19?2) MuiauunL a l<;trl
decorated with zigzaglines in the upper and the lower parts. Fragments
of similar objects have also occuffed at Bara and HuLx in the Late
Harappan context.
Pottery
There is nothing particular about common pottery forms, but one
interesting vessel is the Mahavira. It was a double pot which, it is
belicved, was produced by the inverted firing technique and was
therefore a black-and-red ware pot (van Buitenen 1968: 9-15). The
Black-and-Red Ware has a high antiquity in India going back to the
pre-Harappan times at Gr{arat sitcs but not in the Late Ha.rappan in
the Sapta-Sindhu region. Two specirnens lvhich can be identilied as
the Mahalim are knoNn; both in red warc; one from Amri which may
be pre-Harappan, and the other from Jorwe (Maharashtra) of
chalcolithic date (1200 Bc) (Sankalia and Deo 1955: pl. xxX\L3).
The Mahevira pot was used in the agnicqana rite which is said to be of
non-\'edic origir (Converse 197a). It should be noted that B. Allchin
arrd F.R. Allchin t(x) havc discer"e(l Vfllic trails in thc HaraPPa"
t 'is. : t li{. Alt lr , r l, t , x'r sf llt 'r , l, ir lnt sh'wir ', at lxr o, f / l'r l) x'nt r 'r '( e'r 'r r r ( n'Y
lx,tlcry.