S. Kalyanaraman, 2004, Indian Alchemy: Soma in the Veda, Delhi,
Munshiram Manoharlal: Dy. 346p. 2004. Rs.650

>From the blurb at http://www.mrmlbooks.com/

The book is an epoch-making work-a paradigm-shift in Vedic
studies-which identifies soma as electrum (gold-silver metallic
compound). Soma is referred to in the Rgveda as the soul of the yajna
(atmayajnasya). The path-breaking identification is based on textual
evidence and a penetrating analysis of the Indian alchemical
tradition, spanning nearly five millennia. The author is also the
discoverer of the integrating role played by the mighty Sarasvati
river adored in the Rgveda as the best of mothers, best of rivers and
best of goddesses. Sarasvati and soma are no longer mythology but
relevant to present-day children, respectively, as the repository of
groundwater sanctuaries in north-west India and the metallurgical
tradition starting with the Bronze Age Civilization, c. 3000 BC.
Sarasvati and soma are the symbols of the great Indian traditions of
devi worship and personification and deification of natural, material
phenomena. The tirthas along the rivers are reminders of the critical
nature of water management problems all over India and soma as an
integral part of the yajna process, is the embodiment of the
scientific, technological and materialist temper of ancient India.