“...an efficacious plant ([Avestan] haoma, [Old Indic] soma) that grows in the mountains and is believed to descend to earth from a mythical region....the Gathas do not mention the plant haoma, although the epithet duraosha, which is used exclusively of haoma in the Young Avesta, is referred to in conjunction with usage by corrupt kavis...This, and another obscure reference to intoxication...has led many to assume that the practice of using haoma was castigated altogether. But in the later Avesta, haoma is recognized as an integral part of the liturgical and mythical schema, receiving many positive epithets, and identified as an element praised by Zarathushtra...As many scholars have pointed out, it is curious that followers of the Gathic teachings would retain, or reintroduce, a practice into the liturgy that was so obviously criticized in the Gathas, while the Gathas themselves formed the core of that liturgy (Yasna). Discussion concerning the original botanical identity of haoma continues.”¹