Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.43

c8.43

In ancient India there were certain social conventions regarding drinking of alcoholic preparations. All those drinks which were intoxicants were not listed as 'Alcohol'. Wine, honey, toddy, juice of sugarcane, juice of Iruppa and Kuṭampuḷi, and sweet toddy of palm tree were not considered alcohol. Surā (liquor) chiefly meant Paiṣṭī (liquor made out of rice paste). Drinking of Surā was banned to the three castes, Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya and Vaiśya. If they drank Surā they had to perform a penance for a year drinking only water or eat long pepper for a year. To be free from the sin of drinking Surā one should wear dress made of animal hair. Even if one drinks water in a pot in which Surā was taken, one should observe Vrata for seven days. (Chapter 173, Agni Purāṇa).