Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c9.s6.7

Language: English

c9.s6.7.1

In a sultan's dinner wine was not an essential part, as for example, in the banquets of Muhammed bin Tughlaq as described by Ibn Battutah. But the rich fare speaks for the cost. Al-Umari was informed that in the royal kitchen of the Sultan thousands of oxen and sheep, fatted horses and birds of all kinds were slaughtered daily to prepare the meals. The imperial kitchen, both during the Sultanate and Mughal times, was a full-fledged. state department with branches like *matbakhi* (kitchen), *abdar khana* which catered for drinking water and wine, and *mewa khana* for fruits. Each branch was manned by a hierarchy of officials. Ganga water was brought for the emperor from long distances. It was carried to as far away as Daulatabad when Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq encamped there. Akbar drank only Ganga water. Provision of this water in the palace would have cost a lot. In matters of food only Akbar was abstemious. Most other rulers ate to satiation as did members of the royal household and the nobles. There were two types of dinner. One was khasa or the special dinner which was attended by the Sultan, and the other was general. There was an elaborate ritual observed while taking the meal. At the *khasa* dinner about twenty guests were present, at others many more. In the middle of the *dastarkhwan* there sat the qazi, khatib, faqih, sharif (saiyyad) and shaikh (sufi), and then the relatives of the Sultan and the chief An-ors. The meal started with sherbet of rose and sugar candy.

c9.s6.7.2

It was served in bowls of silver, gold and glass. The meal served consisted of chapatis, roasted meat, sweet *samosas*, salt *samosas* and rice and chicken. Before everyone present were placed *roomali* rotis, one-fourth or one-sixth piece of a whole roasted sheep. Then *puries* were served with *halwa sabuni* stuffed inside it (it is still sold in large quantities in Aligarh). Next was served in China plates meat cooked in ghee, onion, and green ginger. Four or five *samosas*, stuffed with mince meat, almonds, walnuts, pistachios and various other condiments and fried in ghee were served before each. Rice cooked in ghee garnished with a roasted fowl placed over it was the next dish. All this was rounded off with two items of sweet dish, called *hashimi* and *qahiria*. At the end there was a drink of barley water to push so much stuff down the system. The dinner was over after powdered *pan-masala* and fifteen rolled packets of pan tied with red silken thread were presented to each guest. The royal dinner was held twice in the day.185 it appears that all items could not be eaten to the full even by a glutton, but these were served because a royal dinner was a royal dinner. Still, a variety of pickles (achars) were added to the menu to whip up the action of the stomach. *Aijaz-i-Khusravi* of Amir Khusrau and *Kitab-ur-Rehla* of Ibn Battutah are full of references to these delicacies without which medieval Indian royal meals were not complete.

c9.s6.7.3

Details of a banquet during the Mughal period may also be given. It was arranged by Asaf Khan, Jahangir's brother-in-law in honour of Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of James I to the court of emperor Jahangir (1615-18), and has been described by his chaplain Edward Terry. "The Asaph Chan (Asaf Khan) entertained my Lord Ambassador in a very spacious and very beautiful tent... That tent was kept full of very pleasant perfume; in which scents the King and grandees there take very much delight. The floor of the tent was first covered all over with very rich and large carpets, which were covered again in the places where our dinner stood with other good carpets made of stitched leather... and these were covered again with pure white and fine calico cloths; and all those covered with very many dishes of silver... The Ambassador had more dishes by ten, and I less by ten, than our entertainer had; yet for my part I had fifty dishes. They were all set before us at once... I tasted of all set before me... Now of the provision itself... our larger dishes were filled with rice... some of it white... some of it made yellow with saffron, some of it was made green, and some of it put into a purple colour... several of our dishes were furnished with flesh of several kinds, and with hens and other sorts of fowl cut in pieces... To these we had jellies and culices (meat jellies), rice ground to flour, then boiled, and sweetened with sugar-candy and rose-water, to be eaten cold...

c9.s6.7.4

The flour of rice mingled with sweet almonds... Many other dishes we had, (were) made up of cakes of several forms, of the finest of the wheat flour, mingled with almonds and sugar-candy... To these potatoes excellently well dressed; and to them diverse salads of the curious fruits of that country... and for our drink, some of it was brew'd... At this entertainment we sat long... our feast in that place was better than Apicius, that famous Epicure of Rome, with all his witty gluttony..."¹⁸⁶ Manrique describes an equally elaborate banquet given by Asaf Khan to his imperial son-in-law Shahjahan. It lasted for four hours."¹⁸⁷ Royal dinners and the dinners of the elites were of course costly, but how much money was spent on them is difficult to say because food grains were very cheap and other items of food not very dear throughout the medieval period. Still, with meals taken many times during the course of the day, and with the garnishing of endless dishes, the dinners of royalty and nobility must have been a major item of expenditure of the Mughal society.