It is the god Soma himself who slays Vritra, Soma who overthrows cities, Soma who begets the gods, creates the sun, upholds the sky, prolongs life, sees all things, and is the one best friend of god and man, the divine drop (_indu_), the friend of Indra[16].
As a god he is associated not only with Indra, but also with Agni, Rudra, and P[=u]shan.

A few passages in the later portion of the Rig Veda show that _soma_ already was identified with the moon before the end of this period.

After this the lunar yellow god regularly was regarded as the visible and divine Soma of heaven, represented on earth by the plant[17].
From the fact that Soma is the moon in later literature, and undoubtedly is recognized as such in a small number of the latest passages of the Rig Veda, the not unnatural inference has been drawn by some Vedic scholars that Soma, in hymns still earlier, means the moon; wherever, in fact, epithets hitherto supposed to refer to the plant may be looked upon as not incompatible with a description of the moon, there these epithets are to be referred directly to Soma as the moon-god, not to _soma_, the mere plant.

Thus, with Rig Veda, X.85 (a late hymn, which speaks of Soma as the moon "in the lap of the stars," and as "the days' banner") is to be compared VI.39.3, where it is said that the drop (_soma_) lights up the dark nights, and is the day's banner.

Although this expression, at first view, would seem to refer to the moon alone, yet it may possibly be regarded as on a par with the extravagant praise given elsewhere to the _soma_-plant, and not be so significant of the moon as it appears to be.