 In 1968 , R. Gordon Wasson proposed that A. muscaria was the Soma talked about in the <unk> <unk> of India , a claim which received widespread publicity and popular support at the time . He noted that descriptions of Soma omitted any description of roots , stems or seeds , which suggested a mushroom , and used the adjective <unk> " dazzling " or " <unk> " which the author interprets as meaning red . One line described men <unk> Soma ; this recalled the practice of recycling urine in Siberia . Soma is mentioned as coming " from the mountains " , which Wasson interpreted as the mushroom having been brought in with the <unk> invaders from the north . Indian scholars <unk> Kumar <unk> and <unk> <unk> pointed out that both eating of mushrooms and drinking of urine were proscribed , using as a source the <unk> . In 1971 , Vedic scholar John Brough from Cambridge University rejected Wasson 's theory and noted that the language was too vague to determine a description of Soma . In his 1976 survey , <unk> and Culture , anthropologist Peter T. <unk> evaluated the evidence for and against the identification of the fly agaric mushroom as the Vedic Soma , concluding cautiously in its favour . 
