Variations of Drunkenness: Alcohol Consumption in Tantra

The paper will argue that, prior to the apparent prominence of intoxicating cannabis in the early second millennium, the only intoxicant of any significance in South Asia was alcohol, betel being considered a fragrant digestive, datura used for nefarious means, and soma, however we understand it, never presented as a mind-altering substance in the Common Era. We examine experiences of intoxication according to the testimony of the religious agents under examination, without involving contemporary applications of intoxicating substances. We especially note the understanding that there were a range of intoxicating experiences caused by alcoholic drinks to demonstrate that modern notions of drunkenness are insufficient to account for the experiences detailed in the first millennium CE.