History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t2.15

v1.c26.s3.t2.15

Liquor in south India : Then as now, toddy was brewed in pots tied below incisions made in the spathes of palmyra palm fruits, to catch overnight the intensely sweet juice; this, by natural fermentation in the heat of the day, produced on alcoholic liquor with a strong odour. In the port town of Muziris, says the *Purāṇānūru* (Sreedhara Menon, 1979, pp. 121-126), “toddy flows like water”. The practice of smearing the pots with lime to prevent fermentation is also old, since such pots turn up in excavations. The sweetest toddy was claimed to be produced in Kuttanād (Krishna Ayyar, 1966, p 31), now in Kerala. *Arrack* or distilled strong liquor was also to be had, a favourite of sailors (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1932, pp. 253-300). Liquor was also brewed from paddy, from rice, and from germinated grains in pots, stated (*Rasanyagam*, 1926, pp. 130-160) to yield “after two days and two nights a high-flavoured wine”. The flavour of wine was stated to be improved by filling it in the hollows of stout bamboo stems, and burying them underground to mature (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1930, pp. 57-70). Toppi was the name of a home-brewed rice liquor (Ibid). Scented liquors were made for richer people by fermenting rice in the presence of fragrant flowers such as the *dhātakī* (Kanakasabhai, 1904, pp. 125-135). In mountain areas, wine was brewed from honey, and again matured underground before use . Italian wine was imported in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD for the use of royalty in characterisic two-handled amphorae; these have been found in large numbers at a Roman warehouse of the period excavated in Arikamedu near Pondicherry, with dregs of resinous material two thousand years old still adhering to the bottom. A favourite drink, especially of women, was munnir (“triple liquid”), a mixture of tender (perhaps unfermented) palmyra juice, sugarcane juice and coconut water (Sreedhara Menon, 1979, pp. 121-126; Nilakantha Sastri, 1964, pp. 77—80). As many as 60 pure Tamil names for liquor occur in the early literature, indicating its widespread use and popularity. Vendors of liquor were called tuvāsar, paduvar (padu is one name for liquor), palaiyār (pali is another), piliyar (pili is yet another) and saundiyār (clearly a Sanskrit borrowal) (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1930, pp. 57-70).