The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.339

v1.c10.339

[117] As already stated (*ante* p. [110]), drinking vessels are common at Bhuvaneśvara, but they are never shaped like animals' heads as in Assyria and Etruria. Of the nature of the beverages which they contained, nothing can be said. The religion of Śiva, and that of his consort, recognise the use of spirituous liquors as an element of devotion, and it is to be supposed that the people who followed those forms of religion did avail themselves of the license to a considerable extent. Six hundred years before the time, we find that drinking wine and spirits was almost as common among the Indians as it is now in Europe. In the *Śakuntalā*, when the fisherman, who brought the lost ring to the king, proposed to give to the policemen half of the money he had received as a present from Duṣyanta, the Superintendent, joyously accepting the offer, remarked: "Thou good fisherman, you are an excellent fellow, and I begin to feel quite a regard for you. Let us seal our first friendship over a glass of good liquor. Come along to the next wine shop, we will drink your health"; ¹⁷⁵ and the whole party agreed to the proposal to make the fisherman stand a treat, saying "by all means". Nothing short of free and undisguised use of spirit by the ordinary people of the country could have justified the poet in introducing such a scene. That the practice was not confined to the lower orders of the people, is evident from the fact of the Superintendent having been a relation of the king. It is also manifest from the Sāñcī bas-reliefs, among which more than one lady of high rank may be seen standing in a balcony on the roadside with a drinking cup in her hand, and a maid with a decanter by her side ready to replenish it. In the garden scene, two of the lovers have tazzas in their hands with an urn before them, clearly indicating indulgence in something more potent than water or *śerbat*. Commenting on this scene, Mr. Fergusson justly observes, "We ought not to be surprised that drinking should be a favourite indulgence in these days. The *Mahābhārata* is full of drinking scenes, and many of its episodes turn on the results of intoxication. Even the gods in those days got drunk on *soma* juice; why not poor mortals? In addition to this we must bear in mind that though the Hindus of the plains are so remarkable for their temperance, all the hill tribes drink joyously to the present day. No ceremony, civil or religious, takes place without drinking and dancing, and the festival generally is brought to a close by all—the men, at least—being so drunk as to be unable to continue it". ¹⁷⁶ No doubt the Śāstras condemn indulgence in wine, especially by women, as sinful; but neither the anathema of the moralist, nor the ordinance of the lawgiver, seems to have put a stop to the manufacture of spirituous liquors in the country, or to the importation of valuable foreign wines such as are mentioned in Arrian's *Periplus*, which were evidently destined for the use of men of wealth and consequence. ¹⁷⁷