The writers of digests of Hindu Law like Hemadri and Raghunandana flourished from the 13th to the 16th century A.D. They had tried to regulate the life of an average Hindu by laying down rigid rules for every occasion. This left hardly any scope for independent thinking on the part of the people and led to a stage of stagnation in Hindu society. The reformers of the 15th century like Kabir, Chaitanya and Nanak raised their voice against the orthodoxy of both the Hindu Pandits and the Muslim Maulavis and preached the gospel of love and friendship in the languages of the people as well. As a result of the work of these reformers there was a movement aiming at the synthesis of the old and new elements in Indian social life. In this paper an attempt is being made to examine these elements in the sphere of food habits of Indians during the 16th century. The paper is based on a study of the works of seven Hindi poets. Among them four were Bhakti poets, namely, Mira (1502-56), Surdas (1478-1580), Tulsidas (1497-1623) and Nandadas (1543-1605). These poets generally described the use of traditional foods among the people. The other three were Sufi poets in the list. The names can be mentioned as Kutuban (1503), Manjhan (1545) and Jayasi (1527-40) representing the synthetic outlook in food habits. Of all the seven Hindi poets the most comprehensive description of food habits of the people is found in Jayasi's Padmavat. The poets of Bhakti school refer to four kinds of food preparations and these are Bhaksya, bhojya, chosya and lehya. These means hard food, soft food, preparations that are sucked and food preparations, which could be licked. Six rastes or satrasa, fifty-six kinds of preparations i.e. chhappan bhoga and thirty-six kinds of condiments i.e. Chhattisoh vyanjan are present. The Kutuban also refers to six tastes and five tasty preparations or khatrasa and pancha ambrita. Kutuban andjayasi refer to 52 kinds of cakes or puris and 84 kinds of cooked preparations or handis while JayasIi refers to 101 kinds of kathahandis. ![]() The common word for fried preparations of cereals seems to be palavan. Frying cakes of wheat flour in clarified butter prepared puris. Puris stuffed with the ground pulse of Urad were called kachauris.Very delicious cakes prepared with wheat flour were called luchais. Thick cakes mixed with salt and fried in clarified butter were called matharis. Suhalis or Soharis were probably cakes prepared with powdered wheat flour and fried in clarified butter. The common words used for rice were tandua or chatir. Unhusked rice was called dhan. The Surdas has mentioned three varieties of rice and these are rayabhoga, pasai, and nilavati. Tulsi also mentions pasai but calls it pasarf. Jayasi gives the names of twenty-eight varieties of rice of superior kind. ![]() The most common rice preparation was khichadi, which was a mixture of rice and mung pulse. Tahari was prepared by cooking rice with bails and green pea. Sometimes the kernel of coconut, dates and chiraunji were also used in preparing tahari. Common man ate parched rice. Another popular preparation of rice was chivda. It was prepared by soaking rice grains in water and then thrashing them with a paste before they were parched or baked. Of other cereals, the Bhakti poets have mentioned bajra. But there is no mention of maize in their works. The poets of Bhakti school have mentioned almost all the pulses namely, moong, masur, urad and gram. Gram was usually consumed by parching and eating.Grains of green gram or pea were ground mixed with salt, turmeric and other spices and then fried to make a delicious preparation called nimona. The flour of gram pulse was used for preparing cakes by mixing rock salt i.e. sendha, and ajvain with it. Sometimes flour of pulse of gram or besari was mixed with powdered wheat flour for preparing cakes. Besan was also used to cover certain leaves such as those of aravi and then frying them in clarified butter or rilcavacnn. The general word for all preparations of ground pulses was pithauri. Various kinds of small and big balls were prepared by allowing the pulses to get soft by soaking them in water and then grinding them on a piece of stone. ![]() Dairy Products Some favorite food item especially dairy products of that period can be mentioned as Milk, curds, and butter. Milk of a cow, which had recently given birth to a calf, was also used. The people liked milk that was reduced to half the quantity by boiling. Butter was taken with cakes and crystal sugar or misri. Curds were generally taken with boiled-rice. Inspissated milk or khoya was used in preparing sweets. Clarified butter was used in frying articles of food. Villagers used buttermilk or chhachh in large quantities. Cream or sara of milk was relished by people. Basaundii or rubadi is a fragrant and semi liquid preparation of milk that was very much liked. Raita was prepared by adding some water to curds with pieces of some vegetables and fragrant spices to it. A mixture of milk, curds, clarified butter, honey and sugar was called panchamrt. Sikharan was a sweet preparation with curds, which was very much relished by people in northern India. Sweets ![]() Gievar was prepared with powdered wheat flour and sugar. Khandu seems to be another sweet preparation. Khua seems to be a sweet preparation of khoya. Surdas mentions sweet preparations called galamasurft and Jcaurf. Petha was also used in preparing sweets. Gum was mixed with a solution of sugar, which was eaten after drying gunjhiya, or gujha was also a common sweet preparation, which was prepared with powdered wheat flour and sugar and was semicircular in shape. Jayasi probably calls gunjhiya as pera. Another sweet mentioned by Surdas is khwrma. Lapsi was a sweet preparation of fried wheat flour and sugar, which was licked, Pheni and suhari were other sweet preparations of wheat flour. Khoya was used in many sweet preparations. Jayasi also mentions sweets like khirisa, murkuri, chhal, dhurhari and haiuva. Khirisas were a kind of gunjhiyas. Murkura is probably the same as amirati, Bund seems to be bundi of besan and dhurahari are sweets balls of bundi. Sweets that were served at the end of a dinner were called pachhiyauri. Vegetables ![]() The leaves that were generally cooked as vegetables were Jcuifa, leaves of gram plant, chaulai, ladia, poi, leaves of radish, soya, bat Jiua, metjn, Jonia, chujca and leaves of mustard. The flower that was used as vegetables can be named as Jcachnar. The roots used as vegetables were pindika, pindaru, ratalu, suran, ibb and aravf. Mushrooms like chhatraka were also cooked as vegetables. The juice of vegetables was called sasan. The common fruits were mangoes, plums, grapes, dates, cucumber and Icifra. Jayasi mentions a variety of khira called balam, banana, coconut, sugarcane and Iciirni. Surdas also mentions sriphal, guavas, saphari, and Jchubani, jamou, apples or seb, watermelon or tarbuza, pomegranuts or dadima, biiva. There were a number of gardens. Manjhan mentions turanja variety of lemons and Jayasi mentions jambhere, oranges and badahal. The common dry fruits were raisins, kismisa, almond or badam, dates or chhuhara, Miaur, pistachio or pista, chirauiy and coconut. Spices ![]() Fenugreek or methi was used for preparing pulse balls for cooking. This is popularly known as mithauri. Harra was also used for seasoning food preparations. Pickles or achar or sandhan were prepared with lemons, suran, mangoes, karondas and fruit of Jcarir tree or Teme. Guramba was a preparation of green mango pieces cooked in a solution of jaggery and water. Condiments Kanji was prepared by allowing the rice gruel to fement. Some fruits and vegetables were preserved in vinegar. Oils and oilseeds Besides clarified butter oils of sesame or mitha tel and mustard or Icadava tel were commonly used for frying articles. Fish were generally fried in mustard oil. Sesame or til was a common article of food. Beverages This is described as the common sweet drink where water is mixed with raw sugar or Ichandvanl. Sometime fragrant substances such as camphor or saffron, and sandalwood were added to make it more palatable. In spring the lovers enjoyed fruit juices such as those of grapes and pomegranates. Intoxicating Drinks ![]() Betel Chewing Betel i.e.tamor and tambul chewing had become very popular during our period. Betel leaves were taken with areca nut, lime, and kattha, cloves, cardamon, camphor, and Icasturi. In royal families betel leaves were served in gold plates after a feast. The leaves were generally folded to make Bidas and these bidas were kept in small cases made of straw. Betel leaves were also used in making a saline preparation called panaura by covering the leaves with a paste of flour of gram pulse. |
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