History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t1.4

v1.c26.s3.t1.4

*Royal cooking* : The royal kitchen was called *rasavati* or *mahānasa* (Auboyer, 1965, p.265). That of king Sandāsa is depicted as merely an open thatched hut in Cave 17 at Ajanta (Schlingloff 1987, p.109). The cook is seated on the floor, pointing to a cooking pot with one hand, while looking at the back of the hut, where a dog is seen that has made off with the meat destined for the royal table. Among a king’s morning tasks was a consultation with the cook. The cook’s duties were not only to keep away marauding crows and dogs, but to ensure food variety and freedom from poison for which an official food-taster was always around (Auboyer, 1965, p.259). The cook was called the *ālāraka* or *sūpakāra* (Law, 1934, p. 68), and there were specialists like the *avalika* (for use of condiments and spices), *apupika* (for baking) and *kandavika* (for frying) (Deshmukh, 1981, pp.99-110). Buddhist literature has *odanika* for a cook, the *Arthaśāstra* *bhojanadātṛ*, and the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa* *sudas* for a king’s cook (Dayal, 1983, p. 157). In pre-Aryan south India, lavish hospitality was expected of royalty; one poet was fed with the “soft boiled legs of sheep fed on sweet grass, and large chops of hot meat roasted on the points of spits... (besides) sweets of excellent taste in varied shapes”, and of course strong liquor, sometimes scented and flavoured.