Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s7.6

c17.s7.6

Medieval chroniclers give interesting data about the cereals, fruits, vegetables, etc. of those days. Wheat was commonly used but was "the dearest article",⁸⁸ and barley is mentioned oftener in the hagiological literature. Other cereals were peas, lintels, mash, lobiya and sesame. Rice is said to be of as many kinds as twenty-one.⁸⁹ Mahuan mentions two crops of rice in a year and says that wheat, sesame, all kinds of pulses, millet, ginger, mustard, onion, quash, hemp, brinjals and vegetables of many kinds grew in the country in abundance.⁹⁰ Wheat bread, baked (*roti*) and fried (*pūrī*), was eaten with *dāl*, meat and vegetable curries. *Chapatīs* were cooked in *tandūrs*,⁹¹ even now common in the Punjab, and open ovens (*chulhā*) common all over India. Other dishes were churned curd,⁹² *khajūr*,⁹³ meat and meat-soup (*āsh*).⁹⁴ *Parātha*, *halwā*, and *harīsā*,⁹⁵ were common with the rich, *khichrī* and *sattū*⁹⁶ with the poor. Muslims were generally meat-eaters and mostly ate “the flesh of cow and goat though they have many sheep, because they have become accustomed to it”.⁹⁷ A cow for slaughtering cost only one and a half *tankās*, while fowls, pigeons and other birds were sold very cheap.⁹⁸ The Hindus as a rule were vegetarians.⁹⁹ Of the vegetables mentioned are cucumber, pumpkin, various kinds of green leaves, jack fruit (*katahal*), *karela*, turnip, carrot, asparagus, ginger, garden beet, onion, garlic, fennel and thyme.¹⁰⁰ This certainly does not exhaust the list, but these have found specific mention. Vegetables were cooked and fried with various kinds of condiments and *ghī*; and as if the spices were not enough to whip up the action of the stomach a great number of pickles (*achārs*) were added to the menu. Tamarind was commonly used and grown in abundance. *A’jāz-i-Khusravī* of Amīr Khusru and *Kitābur Rehlā* of Ibn Battūta are full of references to these delicacies without which Indian meals, then as now, are never complete. Pickles were prepared from green mangoes as well as ginger and chillies.¹⁰¹