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History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t4: Oilseed processing

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t4

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English

Oilseed processing

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*Oilseed crushing* : A charred lump of sesame seed was found in Harappa (Piggott, 1950, p.153), and carbonised *rai* (mustard) seeds in Chanhudaro (Visnu-Mittre, 1974, p. 3), so at least two oil- bearing seeds were known to the Harappans. They had copper frying pans with a lip (Mackay, 1938, II, Pl.71, Item 42, Plate 82, Item 11) and small stone querns for grinding spices. The body fat of various animals and fish, and that of milk, was likewise available. Since all the elements were present, it is quite probable that frying of food was practised. Animal fats would have risen to the top on boiling any flesh in water. Whether vegetable oils were also obtained in this way, or in any other, is not known.

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The *Ṛgveda* has two devices for crushing *soma*, the grinding stones or *grāvan*, and the mortar-and-pestle, *ulūkhala-musala*. When the *soma* sacrifice enlarged to include 16 priests, the crushing mortar may have grown in size as well. Large wooden grain pounders were of course also known. From such reduction devices could the oil press have had its origin, to judge by the terms employed for it, as hereafter discussed.

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Sanskrit has *tila* for sesame seed and *taila* for its oil. From the time of the *Bhaviṣya Purāṇa* onwards, the composite word *taila* (or *tila*)-*pesana-yantra* stands for an oil press (Monier Williams, 1851, p. 549). *Tailikas* or oil millers find mention in Panini (Monier Williams, 1899, p.448), in the *Mahābhārata*, and *Arthaśāstra* (Shyamasastry, 1923, pp. 112-113) and in early Buddhist literature. Some sort of a wheel or circle (*cakra*) seems to have been involved, and the oil miller is called a *cakrin* in the *Amarakośa* (Deshmukh, 1981, pp. 99-110). Did the *tailika* walk round in a circle operating the unit, or was there an edge-runner of some kind? The use of animal power is never mentioned, and indeed is believed by some authorities to have never been employed in India for such traction before the Christian era (Roy and Bagchi, 1983, (a), p.1). The *Arthaśāstra* has a list of oilseeds crushed (Shyamasastry, 1923, pp. 112-113), with their oil yields given as one-sixth, one-fifth and one-fourth; these are the sesame, linseed, safflower, *mahua*, *ingudi* (*Balanites aegyptiaca*), neem, *kapittha* and *kusamra* (identity uncertain). The oilcake is termed *ghanapinyaka*, the first-ever mention of the term *ghana* for an oilpress (Shyamasastry, 1923, pp. 112-113).

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*Terms used for an oilpress* : Despite its lone use in the *Arthaśāstra*, all the evidence suggests that the word *ghana* moved from Prakrit into Sanskrit, when it next appears only in the *Ballalacarita* of 1510 AD (Bhaṭ, Ānanda). The words *ghranaka* appears once, and *ghanaka* several times, in inscriptions of the 5th century AD from Bengal (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1925/26, 18, 60), the 10th century AD from Gwalior (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1892, I, 162), and shortly thereafter in Nashik (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1927/28, 19, 69). A Veraval inscription from Gujarat of 1264 AD has *ghamcika* for oil miller (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1961/62, 34, 141). All these have a Prakrit connotation. The origin of the word *ghana* itself can only be guessed at by a number of associations. *Grāva* is the Sanskrit grinding stone, *ghavan* is a stone mortar in Marathi, *ghaṭāni* a mill in Gujarati (Turner, 1966, p. 241), and *ghaṭānika* is a Sanskrit word for a heavy club (pestle), used in the *Rāmāyaṇa* (Yuddhakāṇḍa, 6. 1053) and *Matsya Purāṇa* (177. 11). *Ghana* for the oil press may represent an amalgam of such usages.

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The other term commonly used for an oil press is *kolhu*. This again appears to be a Prakrit word, and it occurs in a Gwalior inscription of 933 AD in the Sanskritised form *kolhuka* (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1892, I, 154). Again its origin may be a complex amalgam of *ulūkhalika* (meaning the act of grinding), *khali* (oilcake), and *ukhli* and *okhli* (small mortars) (Platt, 1899, p. 106). The Tamil term *cekku* for the oilpress is by way of the Pali *cakka* (for *cakra*), a word which also gave rise to the common present term *chakki* for any circular millstone or pulley. The term first occurs in Tamil in the *Nāladiyār* (374) and the *Nālayira Thivya Prabhandam* (Thiruvaimozhi-7, 1 and 5) of the 7th or 8th centuries AD. However a reference occurs in the slightly earlier *Purananuru* (Verse 50, lines 6-7) to the froth (*nurai*) on the surface of oil extracted from sesame seed. This is a striking characteristic of oil when it first appears in a press, and strongly suggests that the oil pres was in use.

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*Actual oilpresses*: Few old oilpresses have survived, being frequently made of wood in the past. A series of old stone crushing units have been brought together in Dwarka (Gujarat) from surrounding areas; though labelled as soma crushers, their design almost certainly points to their being oil-crushing units. One authority is of opinion that these units go back the first two centuries of the Christian era (Rao, S.R., Personal Communications). The same authority has also excavated *ghānis* from 6th century AD surroundings in Aihole (Bijapur District, Karnataka). A stone oilmill set up in Karnataka state by one Asakka-gavunda in 1145 AD with an inscription to this effect is stated to still surive (Gururajachar, 1974, p. 75). Till about a century ago, all commercial oil extraction in the country was effected in *ghānis*, with only regional variations in size and design.

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