Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s7.29

c17.s7.29

Rain water was the chief drink of the people. It was collected in large reservoirs or tanks during the rainy season. The water of the tanks, which could hardly have been cleaned frequently and properly, and was carried in water-skins, was certainly unhygienic.¹⁰⁹ The wells¹¹⁰ posed the same problem of cleaning. Consequently rivers were considered to be the best suppliers of clean water. This may be the reason why sanctity has been attached to the Ganga through the ages. Even Sultans used to drink water from the Ganga only, and when Muhammad Tughlaq shifted his capital to Daulatabad, water from the Ganga was carried for him all the distance of forty days' journey to it.¹¹¹ In summer season water was cooled in earthen jugs. Iced water was a rarity even for the Sultans.¹¹² *Sharbat* was greatly in vogue.¹¹³ On festive occasions, or to celebrate some victory, the Sultans used to arrange for free distribution of sweets and *sharbat* among the people. Wine, prohibited by religion and disapproved by all, was drunk freely by those who had a liking for it. But the after-dinner drink was only water, and "the inhabitants of India have little taste for wine and intoxicating drinks, but content themselves with betel, an agreeable drug, the use of which is permitted without the slightest objection".¹¹⁴ In medieval chronicles it is called by its Sanskrit name *tāmbūl*.¹¹⁵ Amīr Khusru lavishes a lot of praise on it,¹¹⁶ and so does Abdur Razzāq. Pān, says he, "gives a colour to and brightens the countenance, causes an intoxication similar to that produced by wine, appeases hunger and excites appetite.... It removes the disagreeable smell from the mouth and strengthens the teeth."[¹¹⁷] Pān chewing was a national habit throughout Medieval India.