India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s6.t2: V. Vegetables and Fruits
India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c8.s6.t2
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V. Vegetables and Fruits
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Among auxiliary articles of food Pāṇini refers to *śāka* (leafy vegetables), *bhājī* (cooked vegetables, IV.1.42; also called *śrāṇā* in *sūtra* IV.4.67), *sūpa* (juice of boiled pulses, VI.2.128), prepared from pulses like *mudga* and *māsha*. Mention is also made of the practice of munching with food such digestive roots as radish and ginger, called *upadaṁśa* (III.4.47).
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Among fruits *āmra* (mango, VIII.4.5) and *jambū* (rose-apple, IV.3.165) are mentioned. Generally the name of the tree denoted also the name of the fruit (IV.3.163, *Phale-luk*).
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*COOKING*—Cooking is called *pakti* (III.3.95). Frying-pans were used for cooking (*ukhā*, *ukhya*, IV.2.17). The process of roasting on spikes is referred to as *śūlā-karoti* (V.4.65) and articles so roasted were known as *śūlya* (IV.2.17). The commentators understand this process to apply only to meat preparations. Pāṇini explicitly refers to *māṁsa* in *sūtra* IV.4.67. Kauṭilya also mentions shops of cooked meat (*pakva-māṁsika*, II.36) and *śūlya* articles of food.
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The cooks in the time of Pāṇini derived their names from two factors, firstly from their specialised skill in preparing particular dishes, and secondly from the quantity which they were capable of handling. The first point is perhaps referred to in VI.2.129, in which the names of various classes of cooks are presumed, as *deva-sūda* and *bhājī-sūda*, i.e. cooks attached to temples and those expert in the cooking of vegetables.¹ Even at present the *bhājī-sūda* is a specialist whose services are in demand at the time of big feasts for making vegetables.
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The practice of designating cooks on the basis of their capacity to cook a particular measure or quantity of food is referred to in *sūtra* V.¹.52. This may have been a criterion to determine their wages and fitness for employment in domestic and festive cooking. Pāṇini speaks of cooks handling different quantities of food-stuffs, equal to an *āḍhaka*, *āchita* or *pātra* measure (V.1.53). Kātyāyana in a special *vārttika* refers to the cooking of a *droṇa*-measure, from which a female cook competent to handle this quantity was known as *drauṇī* or *drauṇikī* (V.1.52; II.352). There were also female cooks handling larger quantities like two *āḍhakas*, and named *dvyāḍhakī*, *dvyāḍakikī*, *dvyāḍhakinā* (V.1.55; II.352). The popularity of these epithets is seen from another rule in which Pāṇini gives as many as four variant froms for designating one who could cook a couple of *kulija* measures, *e.g.* *dvikulijikī* *dvikulijīnā*, *dvikulijā*, *dvaikulijikī* (V.¹.55).
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¹ Cf. *Artha.* Text, V.1, referring to *sūda* and *bhakshakāra* as sauce-maker and sweetmeat-maker respectively. The *Kāśikā* understands *Devasūda* and *Bhājīsūda* as place-names.
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The same principle held good in the case of utensils which were named from the quantity that they could contain (*saṁ-bhavati*, V.¹.52) as *prāsthika*, *kauḍavika*, *khārīka*, or the quantity that could be cooked in them (*Parimāṇe pachaḥ*, III.2.33). This naming of cooking vessels according to their capacity was of practical use at the time of borrowing utensils for big feasts.
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CUSTOM OF FEEDING DOMESTIC SERVANTS. Pāṇini refers to the custom of giving food to a domestic servant as part of his wages fixed by custom (*niyukta*, IV.4.66). This practice was so widely prevalent that special terms were used to indicate it, *e.g.* a servant who got cooked rice as his food every day was called *odanika* or *bhāktika* (*odanikī* for a female servant). According to Pāṇini the customary payments of food to domestic servants were of an obligatory nature:
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*Tad asmai dīyate niyuktam* (IV.4.66)
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"The affix *ṭhak* is added after the name of food which is to be given as a customary payment.'
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The word *niyukta* comes from *niyoga*, which Patañjali explains as a legal obligation like a debt.¹ For example, if one had engaged a servant for a *paṇa* per day, the *paṇa* was a *niyukta* charge, the payment of which at the end of the day was obligatory. We have to think of those circumstances in which an article of food became due in a like manner. We read in the *Arthaśāstra* of *bhakta-karmakaras*, i.e. servants engaged on the stipulation of being given daily food. In actual rural economy there has always existed the custom of giving a portion of the mid-day meal to certain domestic servants and menials, like the scavenger and the water-carrier, etc. Their daily wages in respect of the services rendered to the various families consist only of food articles which they are required to collect in the course of the day from the houses served by them. The village Brāhmaṇa also by virtue of his privileged position as Purohita gets a portion, which is no doubt referred to in the illustration *agrabhojanika* (*agre bhojanam asmai niyuktaṁ dīyate*) cited by the *Kāśikā*. In this case the members of the household cannot partake of their food unless the *agrabhojana* has been set apart. It is to be noted that this supply of food (*niyukta bhaksha*) is part of the stipulated wages for which the servant is employed. According to Pāṇini the food thus supplied might be of different kinds, viz. cooked vegatables (*śrāṇā*), rice cooked with meat (*māṁsa* and *odana*, IV.4.67), or full meal, (*bhakta*, IV.4.68). One getting cooked vegetables would be called *śrāṇika*, or *śrāṇikī* in the case of a female; similarly *māṁsika* (getting meat as food), *odanika* (geting boiled rice) and *bhāktika*. The *bhāktika* was the same as *bhakta-karmakara* of Kauṭilya, receiving a full meal every day. This practice worked out in a manner that the servant could make a complete meal with the different articles received from different houses. The same person would be a *śrāṇika* in respect of one family, *odanika* in respect of a second, and *āpūpika* in respect of a third. For example, a female water-drawer (*udahārī*) agreed to take vegetables from one house, soup from another, meat and rice from a third and so on, and thus she earned her full meal. If she served a confectioner (*āpūpika*) she would naturally receive an *apūpa* a day as her payment for work, and with reference to that particular house she would be called *āpūpikī*, i.e. a female receiving an *apūpa* every day.
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¹ *Yad-yasya niyogataḥ kāryam-ṛṇaṁ tasya tad-bhavati*. (*Bhāshya*, I.391; in the course of explanation of the *vārttika* on *sūtra*, II.1.43).
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Such an arrangement alone would be responsible for the origin of different designations of servants based on the names of different articles of food as *niyukta* share. This is a living institution in North Indian villages upto this time where cash payment is practically unknown for domestic and menial services rendered.
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*INVITATIONS*—Pāṇini refers to two kinds of invitations to dinner, *viz. nimantraṇa* and *āmantraṇa* (III.3.161). Patañjali explains the former as an invitation to take food at sacrifices (*havya*) and *śrāddha* (*kavya*), the acceptance of which was obligatory. *Āmantraṇa*, however, was an invitation to a feast extended to friends and relations and therefore less formal (*āmantraṇaṁ kāmāchāraḥ*, II.165).
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*PLATE-LEAVINGS*—Pāṇini refers to special terms applied to food-leavings when served in different kinds of utensils. (*Tatrodhṛitam amatrebhyaḥ*, IV.2.14). The domestic servants enjoy customary rights to receive particular leavings and hence the necessity of special words in the language. The *Kāśikā* records three such leavings of rice-food, viz. *śarāva*, *māllaka* and *kārpara*. The first referred to the leavings from the plates in which rice was actually served for eating, and this must have been the share of the scavenger, as it is up to this day. The second, viz. *māllaka*, was the leavings in the pot (*mallaka*) from which it was served, and this must have been the share of the family barber (*nāpita*). The third or *kārpara odana* was that which was left behind in the cooking pot and as such must have been the customary share of the cooks. The *Kāśikā* explains *uddhṛita* as *bhuktochchhishta*, and the *Nānārthārṇava Kosha* as *bhuktojjhita* (Vol. II, p. 42). The word *ujjhita* is the Prakrit form of Skt. *uddhṛita*.
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As to food-habits, Pāṇini refers to them as fasting (*vrata*, III.1.21), gluttony (*audarika*, V.2.67, *ghasmara*, *admara*, III.2.160), and moderation (*subhita*, II.2.11).
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DRINKS. Pāṇini mentions the following terms in connection with drinks:
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(1) *Śuṇḍika*—Drinking booth (IV.3.76),
*Śauṇḍika*—Vintner (IV.3.76).
(2) *Āsuti*—Distillery (V.2.112).
*Āsutīvala*—Distiller (V.2.112).
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(3) *Madya* (intoxicating liquor, III.¹.100);
(4) *Surā* (wine in general, II.4.25).
(5) *Maireya* and (6) *Kāpiśāyana*, names of special wines.
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These are new classical words unknown to older Vedic literature.
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MAIREYA—Maireya was a popular drink. The word is unknown in the *Brāhmaṇa* and *Āraṇyaka* literature, which suggests its origin in the post-Vedic period. The Buddha found its use so common as to lay down a prohibition against it. Pāṇini’s *sūtra* is *Aṅgāni maireye* (VI.2.70).
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‘The first syllable of the word preceding *maireya*, gets the acute accent, when that word denotes an ingredient of *maireya*.’ It implies that the word *maireya* enters into a compound with words denoting its ingredients.
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Leaving the particular grammatical point aside, we infer from the *sūtra* that Pāṇini had a knowledge of the ingredients (*aṅgāni*) of *maireya* liquor. It is not possible to understand the rule properly without a knowledge of these ingredients.
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The *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya enumerates six varieties of liquors, *viz*. *medaka*, *prasannā*, *āsava*, *arishṭa*, *maireya* and *madhu* (*Arthaśāstra*, Text, II.25). It also gives the full recipe of *maireya*:
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“Prepare a decoction of *meshaśṛiṅgī* bark, mix it with jaggery (*guḍa*) and add the powder of long pepper (*pippalī*) and black pepper (*maricha*); to it the powder of *triphalā* may be added optionally,—this is the recipe of *maireya*.”¹
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¹ ‘मेषशृङ्गीत्वक्काथाभिषुतो गुड़प्रतीवापः पिप्पली-मरिच सम्भारस्त्रिफलायुक्तो वा मैरेयः । (*Arh.*, II.25)
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In the above recipe *meshaśṛiṅgī*, *pippalī*, *maricha* and *triphalā* belong to one group, and *guḍa* to another. Further light on this division is thrown by the two illustrations given on Pāṇini’s *sūtra*, by the *Kāśikā*:
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गुड़मैरेयः । मधुमैरेयः ।
मद्यविशेषो मैरेयस्तस्य गुड़विकारस्य गुड़ोऽङ्गं भवति, मधुनो मधु ।
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Both these examples refer only to the sweetening ingredients of *maireya*, viz. *guḍa* and *madhu*. Obviously according to Pāṇini's intention as implied in the *sūtra*, the word *aṅgāni* refers only to the sweetening ingredients and not to the *aushadhi* contents like *meshaśṛiṅgī*, etc. It may be inferred with reason that the *aushadhi* contents of *maireya* remained constant, where-as the sweetening ingredients varied between *guḍa*, *madhu*, *śarkarā*, etc. The naming of *maireya* would thus depend not on the constant ingredients, but on the sweetening contents which varied. For example, the customer ordering his *maireya* drink from the master of the booth would not say *meshaśṛiṅgī-maireya* or *triphalā-maireya*, but would express his desire for a variety in taste by ordering for *guḍa-maireya*, *madhu-maireya*, *śarkarā-maireya*, *phāṇita-maireya*, *ikshurasa-maireya*, etc.
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The above varieties of sweetening ingredients (*madhura-varga*) mixed with the decoction of *meshaśṛiṅgī* and other specified herbs, must have produced a correspondingly superior or inferior quality of drink. Charaka tells us that *maireya* was primarily a *madhura* wine, a drink of sweet taste. The choice of an inferior condiment like *guḍa* and *phāṇita*, or of a superior one like refined sugar made all the difference in the quality, taste and price of the *maireya* drink. The aristocratic customer in the tavern would order a superior grade of wine, and in the case of *maireya* this emphasis would fall naturally on the first part of the compound, *i.e.* on the word denoting the sweetening ingredient which therefore got an acute accent on it.
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The *Arthaśāstra* mentions *guḍa* as a mixture of *maireya* in the recipe quoted above. It agrees with the example *guḍa-maireya* of the *Kāśikā*. The other example *madhu-maireya* i.e. *maireya* prepared by mixing honey, lacks confirmation from the above statement in the *Arthaśāstra*. The question arises as to whether we are on good authority for assuming that other sweetening ingredients besides *guḍa* were also added to *maireya*.
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The answer to this is in the affirmative. In the chapter relating to the duties of the Superintendent of the Royal Storehouse, Kauṭilya gives directions for the storage of liquids tasting astringent: 'Mixture made by combining any one of the substances, such as the juice of sugar-cane, jaggery, honey, raw granulated sugar, the essence of the fruits of *jambū* and jack tree,—with the decoction of *meshaśṛiṅgī* (a kind of plant) and of long pepper should be stocked. To this the addition of the following is optional, *viz.* *chirbhiṭa*, cucumber, sugar-cane, mango fruit and the fruit of myrobalan. This mixture should be either one month or six months, or a year old. This constitutes the *śukta-varga*.'¹
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¹ ^1 इक्षुरस-गुड-मधु-फाणित-जाम्बव-पनसानामन्धतमो मेषशृंगी- पिप्पली क्वाथाभिषुतो मासिकः षाण्मासिकः सांवत्सरीको वा चिद्भिटोर्वारुकेक्षुका मफलामलकावस्रुतः शुद्धो वा शुक्तवर्गः। (*Arth.* Text, II.15, p. 94).
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In this context Kauṭilya does not actually use the name *maireya* for the liquid to be stocked in the royal storehouse, but the recipe leaves no doubt that high class *maireya* is intended. The *oshadhi* contents are the same, *viz.* the docoction of *meshaśṛiṅgī* and *pippalī* (*maricha* is left out as of minor importance); in the optional group in place of *triphalā* alone, we have greater variety in *āmalaka*, *āmra-phala*, *urvāruka*, *ikshu-kāṇḍa*, etc. In the enumeration of the sweet contents, in place of *guḍa* we have six varieties, of which *madhu* is also one. We can now understand the example *madhu-maireya* given in the *Kāśikā* on Pāṇini, VI.2.70. Honey like *guḍa* was also an ingredient from which the particular variety of *maireya* derived its name. We may imagine that both *guḍa-maireya* and *madhu-maireya* were ancient illustrations to Pāṇini's rule. The plural number of the Pāṇinian word *aṅgāni* also stands justified by its reference to as many as seven varieties of sweetening ingredients mixed with *maireya*, *viz.* molasses (*guḍa*), honey (*madhu*), sugar (*śarkarā*), sugarcane juice (*ikshu-rasa*), inspissated juice (*phāṇita*), sugar of jack-fruit (*panasa*) and of rose-apple (*jāmbava*).
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KĀPIŚĀYANA—*Kāpiśāyana* is referred to in *sūtra* IV.².29:
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*Kāpiśyāḥ shphak.*
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The grape exported from Kāpiśī was known as *Kāpiśāyanī drākshā* and its wine *Kāpiśāyanam madhu*. Kāpiśī¹ is even today the home of the grape. In ancient days an excellent quality of raisin wine was manufactured at Kāpiśī and widely exported.² Kauṭilya supplies the clue to the name Kāpiśāyana: 'The juice of grapes is termed *madhu*. Its own native place is the commentary on such of its various forms as *Kāpiśāyana* and *Hārahūraka*.' (*Arth*. Trans. p. 145; Text. II.25). Obviously there were two varieties of the grape wine, the *Kāpiśāyana* produced in the region round Kāpiśī in north Afghanistan, and *Hārahūraka* in the south in the valley of the Harahvaiti or Arghandāb.³ The black raisins are still called *harahūrā*, and it is possible that the *Kāpiśāyana* or northern variety of wine was made from green and the *Hārahūraka* or Kandhār wine from black grapes.
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¹ ^1 *Kāpiśī* is ancient Begram on the confluence of the Ghorband and Panjshir rivers. An inscription in Kharoshṭhī characters recently found there settles the ancient site of the place. (Dr. Sten Konow, Kharoshṭhī Ins. on a Begram Bas-relief, *Ep. Ind.*, XXII, pp. 1-11).
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² ^2 Bindusāra sent for raisin wines from king Antiochos in the third century B.C.
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³ ^3 *Harhvaiti* (*Avestan*), *Harahuvati* (O. Persian)=Skt. Sarasvatī; also called Haraquaiti (*cf. CH.I.* p. 326). It is the modern Arghandāb. (*Vedic Index*, II.434, footnote to Sarasvati).
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Kauṭilya's sentence, *tasya svadeśo vyākhyānam Kāpiśāyanam*, supplies the needed commentary on Pāṇini's *Kāpiśāyana* which must have been the name of the reputed wines from that region. That Kāpiśī was an emporium for this class of drinks is also proved by the recent archaeological discoveries at this site of numerous glass flasks, fish-shaped wine jars and drinking cups which were used in the wine trade many centuries after Pāṇini. (Cf. J. Hackin, *Recherches Archéologiques á Begram*, 1939, pp. 9-10, plates XVII-XIX).
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*KASHĀYAS*—Pāṇini also refers to names of *kashāyas*, or decoctions (VI.2.10, *Adhvaryu-kashāyayor jātau*) of which the *Kāśikā* gives several examples. The *dauvārika-kashāya*, must have been an intoxicating drink of mild effect specially prepared for the *dauvārika* or doorkeeper (Pāṇini, VII.3.4; also *Arth*. Text. V.3), whose duties required him to indulge only in the mildest kinds of drinks.
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Besides the above names, the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* of V.4.3 (supported both by the *Kāśikā* and *Chāndra Vṛitti*) includes *kālikā* and *avadātikā* as names of special wines. *Kālikā* must be the same as *kālikā surā* in Kauṭilya (*Arth*. Text. II.25) and *avadātikā* might be only another name for *śvetasurā* of the *Arthaśāstra* (p. 121), also called *prasannā* (cf. *Kāśikā* on V.4.14). Kātyāyana refers to *śīdhu* in a *vārttika* on II.2.8.
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*DISTILLATION*—In the distillery (*āsuti*, V.2.112), the ingredients were first prepared into a ferment (*kiṇva*); and when their fermentation was complete, they were termed *āsāvya* (III.1.126), literally ‘that of which the distillation has become imminent’ (*āvaśyaka*). The sediment or refuge (*kalka*) left after distillation was termed *vinīya* (III.1.117), a technical word in the vintner’s vocabulary, literally ‘which is fit for removal.’ According to Kauṭilya, women and children could be employed for removing the *surā-kiṇva*, or fermented dregs (*Arth*. Text, II.25, p. 121).
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Another expression originating in the vocabulary of the drinking booth was *kaṇe-hatya* (*pibati*) regularised in *sūtra* I.4.66, which corresponds to the English idiom ‘drinking or draining to the lees.’
Linked texts (4)
- Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
- Epigraphia Indica
- Nānārthārṇavasaṃkṣepa — Keśavasvāmin, Sanskrit