Part 1 - Betel-Chewing in India prior to a.d. 1800

As already intimated, it would be little more than pure guesswork to attempt to give a date at which betel-chewing started in India. It is, however, safe to say that it must have been prior to about 200 B.C., for we find references to it both in the Jātakas^[1] and in several other Pali works,^[2] as well as in the Jain scriptures.^[3] The “Bearer of the Betel-bag” was an important functionary in royal courts, and is often mentioned on inscriptions.^[4]

In the Hitopadeśa betel is mentioned in Book III, fab. ix, and in the same Book, fab, xii, we are told that it possesses thirteen qualities hardly to be found in the regions of heaven. It is described as pungent, bitter, spicy, sweet, expelling wind, removing phlegm, killing worms and subduing bad smells. It also beautifies the mouth, removes impurities and induces to love. We find it mentioned by Suśruta, who dates not later than the first century a.d. In a section on digestion after a meal (ch. xlvi) he says^[5] that the intelligent eater should partake of some fruit of an astringent, pungent or bitter taste, or chew a betel leaf prepared with broken areca-nut, camphor, nutmeg, clove, etc.

By the time of Somadeva the custom was so common as to call for no description on the part of a native writer, and we shall get no detailed information until we begin to search among the journals of early travellers to India.

 

‘Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad (1225)

One of the earliest of these was the Arabian physician Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, who, in his treatise on drugs, written about a.d. 1225, says as follows^[6]:

“Betel is seldom brought to us from India now, because the leaves once dried go into dust for lack of moisture. Such as comes to Yemen and elsewhere can be preserved if cut on the branch and then kept in honey. It is an error to think that betel is this leaf which is now found among us which has the form and odour of the laurel which is known at Basra by spice merchants as kamāri leaf, and which comes from the country of that name, Elkamer, as I have been told. There are physicians in our time who say that this leaf is the leaf of the malabathrum, and who use it as such, but that is an error.”

He also quotes from several earlier Arab writers, among whom is Sherīf, who thus describes the custom:

“Tambil (betel) is hot in the first degree and dry in the third. It dries the humidities of the stomach and fortifies a weak liver. The leaf eaten or taken with water perfumes the breath, drives care away, raises the intelligence. The Indians use it instead of wine after their meals, which brightens their minds and drives away their cares. This is the manner of taking: If one wishes to do it, one takes a leaf, and at the same time half a dram of lime. If lime is not taken, it does not taste good, and the mind is not excited. Whoever uses it becomes joyful,, he has a perfumed breath, perfect sleep by reason of its aromaticity, the pleasure which it brings, and its moderate odour. Betel replaces wine among the Indians, by whom it is widely used.”

 

Chau Ju-Kua (c. a.d. 1250)

The Chu-fan-chï is a work on the Chinese and Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by Chau Ju-Kua, a descendant of the Emperor Tai-tsung. After mentioning the “areca-nut” in Annam, and “areca-nut wine” of the east coast of Sumatra, he describes Lambri or Ceylon. Speaking of the king he says^[7]:

“All day he chews a paste of areca-nut and pearl ashes.... Two attendants are always present holding a golden dish to receive the remains of the areca-nut (paste) chewed by the king. The king’s attendants pay a monthly fee of one i^[8] of gold into the government treasury for the privilege of getting the areca-nut (paste) remains, for it contains “plum flower,” camphor, and all kinds of precious substances.”

He also includes areca-nuts as one of the products of the Coromandel Coast, Java, Borneo and the Philippines. We shall return to him when speaking of betel in China (see p. 303).

 

Marco Polo (c. 1295)

Although the work of Marco Polo probably contains two references to betel-chewing, neither of them can be regarded as undoubtedly genuine. The first passage occurs in the geographic text (1824, c. 177, p. 213), and refers to the “Country of Lar”—i.e. Gujarat and the northern Konkam:

“E lor dens ont mout boune por une erbe qu’il usent à mangier que mout fait bien pair, e molt est sanin au cors de 1’ome.”

This is translated by Yule (vol. ii, p. 365) as:

“They have capital teeth, which is owing to a certain herb they chew, which greatly improves their appearance, and is also very good for the health.”

This seems to refer to betel without doubt, yet Yule has no note on the passage and does not mention it in the index.

The second reference occurs in the next chapter of Yule (Bk. III, ch. xxi), “Concerning the City of Cail,” a forgotten part in the Tinnevelly District of the Madras Presidency. It is found only in the Ramusio text, but Yule does not seem to suggest that it is spurious:

“All the people of this city, as well as of the rest of India, have a custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called Tembul, to gratify a certain habit and desire they have, continually chewing it and spitting out the saliva that it excites. The Lords and gentlefolks and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor and other aromatic spices, and also mixed with quicklime. And this practice was said to be very good for the health. If anyone desires to offer a gross insult to another, when he meets him he spits this leaf or its juice in his face. The other immediately runs before the King, relates the insult that has been offered him, and demands leave to fight the offender. The King supplies the arms, which are sword and target, and all the people flock to see, and there the two fight till one of them is killed. They must not use the point of the sword, for this the King forbids.”^[9]

 

‘Abdu-r Razzāq (1443)

In his valuable account of the Court of Vijayanagar, ‘Abdu-r Razzāq, ambassador of Shah Rukh, relates how he received betel and camphor each time he visited the king. In his description of betel he lays special stress on its aphrodisiacal properties.

I quote from the translation by Major, India in the Fifteenth Century, Hakluyt Society, 1857, p. 32.

“The betel is a leaf like that of the orange, but longer. In Hindoostan, the greater part of the country of the Arabs, and the kingdom of Ormuz, an extreme fondness prevails for this leaf, which, in fact, deserves its reputation. The manner of eating is as follows. They bruise a portion of faufel (areca), otherwise called sipari, and put it in the mouth, moistening a leaf of the betel, together with a grain of chalk, they rub the one upon the other, roll them together, and then place them in the mouth. They thus take as many as four leaves at a time, and chew them. Sometimes they add camphor to it, and sometimes they spit out the saliva, which becomes of a red colour.

“This substance gives a colour to and brightens the countenance, causes an intoxication similar to that produced by wine, appeases hunger, and excites appetite in those who are satiated; it removes the disagreeable smell from the mouth, and strengthens the teeth. It is impossible to express how strengthening it is, and how much it excites to pleasure. It is probable that the properties of this plant may account for the numerous harem of women that the king of this country maintains. If report speaks truly, the number of the khatoun [princesses] and concubines amounts to seven hundred.”

 

Ludovico di Varthema (1505)

The short account of betel given by Varthema, the famous Italian traveller, confirms the views of ‘Abdu-r Razzāq to a certain extent^[10]:

“As an act of devotion, the king does not sleep with a woman or eat betel for a whole year. This betel resembles the leaves of the sour orange, and they are constantly eating it. It is the same to them that confections are to us, and they eat more for sensuality than for any other purpose. When they eat the said leaves, they eat with them a certain fruit which is called cojfolo, and the tree of the said coffolo is called Arecha, and is formed like the stem of the date-tree, and produces its fruit in the same manner. And they also eat with the said leaves a certain lime made from oyster shells, which they call Cionama.”

 

Duarte Barbosa (1513)

Writing on the west coast of India, near Goa, Barbosa, the Portuguese official, says^[11]:

“This betel we call ‘the Indian leaf’; it is as broad as the leaf of the plantain herb, and like it in shape. It grows on an ivy-like tree, and also climbs over other trees which are enveloped in it. These yield no fruit, but only a very aromatic leaf, which throughout India is habitually chewed by both men and women, night and day, in public places and roads by day, and in bed by night, so that their chewing thereof has no pause. This leaf is mixed with a small fruit (seed) called areca, and before eating it they cover it with moistened lime (made from mussel- and cockle-shells), and having wrapped up these two things with the betel leaf, they chew it, swallowing the juice only. It makes the mouth red and the teeth black. They consider it good for drying and preserving the belly and the brain. It subdues flatulence and takes away thirst, so that they take no drink with it. From hence onward, on the way to India, there is a great store thereof, and it is one of the chief sources of revenue to the Indian kings. By the Moors, Arabs and Persians this betel is called tambul.”

 

John Huyghen van Linschoten (1583-1589)

Passing over the brief references given by Cæsar Frederick^[12] (1563-1581) and Pedro Teixeira^[13] (1586-1615) we come to the most important of all the early accounts—namely, that by Linschoten. It contains several interesting interpolations printed in italics, the work of the learned Bernard ten Broecke (whose name was latinised as Paludanus), a contemporary of Linschoten.

So interesting and informative is the account that I give it below in full, according to the translation in the edition printed for the Hakluyt Society, edited by Burnell and Tiele^[14]:

“The leaves called Bettele or Bettre, which is very common in India, and daily eaten by the Indians, doe grow in all places of India, where the Portiṅgals have discovered, not within the countrie but only on the sea coast, unlesse it bee some small quantitie. It will not growe in cold places, as China, nor in over hot places, as Mosambique and Sofala, and because it is so much used, I have particularly set it downe in this place, although it is already spoken of in many other places. You must understand that this Bettele is a leafe somewhat greater and longer out than Orange leaves, and is planted by sticks, whereupon it climeth like Ivie or pepper, and so like unto pepper, that afarre off growing each by other, they can hardlie bee descerned. It hath no other fruite but the leaves only, it is much dressed and looked unto, for that it is the daily breade of India. The leaves being gathered doe continue long without withering, alwaies shewing fresh and greene, and are sold by the dozen, and there is not any woman or man in all India, but that every day eateth a dozen or two of the same leaves or more: not that they use them for foode, but after their meale tides, in the morning and all day long, as likewise by night,^[15] and [as they goe abroad] in the streetes, wheresoever they be you shal see them with some of these leaves in their handes, which continually they are chawing. These leaves are not used to bee eaten^[16] alone, but because of their bitternesse they are eaten^[17] with a certaine kinde of fruit which the Malabares and Portiṅgales call Arecca, the Gusurates and Decanijñs, Suparii, and the Arabians Fauffel. This fruite groweth on trees like the Palme trees that beare the Nut Cocus in India, but they are somewhat thinner, with the leaves somewhat longer and smaller. The fruit is much like the fruit that groweth on Cipresse trees, or like a Nutmeg, though some [of them are] on the one side flat, and on the other [side] thicker,^[18] some being somewhat greater and very hard. They cut them in the middle with a knife, and so chaw them with Bettele, they are within ful of veines, white, and [somewhat] reddish. There is a kinde of Arecca called Cechaniin,^[19] which are lesse, blacker, and very hard, yet are likewise used with Bettele, and have no taste, but onlie of [the] wood, and yet it moysteneth the mouth, and coloureth it both red and blacke, whereby it seemeth that the lips and the teeth are painted with blacke blood, which happeneth when the Arecca is not well dried. There is another sort which in the eating or chawing [beeing swallowed downe] maketh men light in the heade, as if they had drunke wine all the day long, but that is sonne past. They use yet another mixture which they eat withall, that is to say, a cake or role^[20] made of a certaine wood or tree called Kaate, and then they annoint the Bettele leaves with the chalke made of burnt oyster shelles, which can doe no hurt in their bodies, by reason of the small quantitie of it, all this being chawed togeather, and the Iuice swalloed downe into their bodies, for all the rest they spit forth, they say it is very good for the maw, and against a stinking breath, [a soveraigne medicine] for the teeth, and fastning of gummes, and [very good]^[21] against the Schorbucke,^[22] and it is most true that in India verie few men are found with stinking breathes or tooth aches, or troubled with the Schorbuch or any such diseases, and although they be never so old, they alwaies have their teeth whole and sound, but their mouthes and teeth are still as if they were painted with black blood as I said before and never leave spitting reddish spittle like blood. The Portiṅgale women have the like custome of eating these Bettele leaves, so that if they were but one day without eating their Bettele, they perswade themselves they could not live: Yea, they set it in the night times by their Beddes heades, and when they cannot sleepe, they doe nothing els but chaw Bettele and spit it out againe. In the day time wheresoever they doe sit, goe, or stand, they are continually chawing thereof, like Oxen or Kine chawing their cud: for the [whole] exercise of [many Portiṅgale]^[23] women, is onely all the day long to wash^[24] themselves, and then fal to the chawing of their Bettele. There are some Portiṅgales that by the common custome of their wives eating of Bettele, doe likewise use it. When the Indian women^[25] go to visit one an other, the Bettele goeth with them, and the greatest pleasure or entertainment they can shew one to the other, is presently to present them with some Bettele, Arecca, and chalke in a woodden dish, which they keepe onely for that purpose. This Bettele is to be sold in every corner, and streete, and shoppe^[26] [of the towne], as also in every high way for travellers and passengers, and is ready prepared, that is to say, so many Bettele leaves, one Arecca and some chalke, and many times some Cate for such as desire to have it, which they commonly keepe in their houses, or beare in their hands in a woodden painted dish, and so eate in this sort, first a peece of Arecca, and Cate, which they chaw, after that a leafe of Bettele, and with the naile of their thumbe, which they purposely weare sharpe and long, not round as we doe, they pull the veines [or stringes] out of the leafe, and so smeare it in their mouthes and chaw it. The first sap thereof they spit forth: and say that thereby they purge the head and the maw of all evill, and fiegmaticke humours,^[27] and their spittle being as fowle as blacke blood, which colour proceedeth from the Arecca; the rest of the Iuice they swallow downe.

“The Indians goe continually^[28] in the streetes and waies with Bettele and the other mixtures in their handes chawing, specially when they go to speak with any man, or come before a great Lord, thereby to retaine a good smell, and to keepe their breathes sweet, and if they should not have it in that sort with them whensoever they [meete or] speake with any man of account, it were a great shame for them.

“The women likewise when they accompany secretly with their husbands, doe first eat a little Bettele, which (they think) maketh them apter to the game. All the Indians eate it after their meales, saying that otherwise their meate would upbraide them [and rise in their stomakes], and that such as have used to eate it, and leave it, doe [presently] get a stincking breath. They doe at certaine times forbeare the eating of Bettele, [as] when any of their neerest friends die, and also on certain fasting daies, as likewise some Arabians and the followers of Ali, Mahomets brother in lawe, doe upon their fazting daies. In Malabar, this leafe is called Bettele,^[29] in Decam Gusurate, and Canam,^[30] it is called Pam,^[31] in Malaion,^[32] Siri,^[33] by Auicenna, Tambul,^[34] but better by others Tambul. Auicenna sayetli, that Bettele strengtheneth the maw, and fastneth the flesh of the Gummes, for which purpose the Indians doe use it, but where he ajfirmeth those leaves to be cold in the first degree, and drying in the second, it is not so, for either his Booke is false printed,^[35] for hee was deceived [therein], for those leaves are hotte and drie in the end of the second degree, as Garcius ab Horto himself hath found out, like-wise the taste and smell thereof doe affirme it to be so. This Bettele is like a Citron leafe, but [somewhat] longer, sharpe at the ende, having certain veines that runne along the leafe. The rypest are holden to bee the best, and are of colour yellow[ish], although some women chuse the unripe, because they are pleasanter^[36] in the chawing. The leaves doe wither by much handling. The Bettele in Malacca, beareth a fruit like the tayle of an Efte, which because it tasteth well, is eaten: it is planted like a Vine upon stickes, as Hoppes^[37] with us. Some for their greater benefit Plant it among Pepper, and among Arecca, and thereof doe make a pleasant Gallerie. This Bettele must be carefully looked unto, and often watered. He that desireth to know more hereof, let him reade the worthie commentaries of learned Clusios, uppon the Chapter of Garcius toucing Bettele.^[38]

“The Noblemen and Kinds, wheresoever they goe, stand or sit, have alwaies a servant by them, with a Silver ketle [in their hand] full of Bettele and their mixtures, and [when they will eat] give them a leafe ready prepared. And when any Ambassadour commeth to speak with the King, although the King can understand them well, yet it is their manner (to maintaine their estates) that the Ambassadour speaketh unto them by an interpreter, [that standeth there] in presence, which done, he answereth againe by the same interpreter. In the meane time, the King lyeth on a bed, or else sitteth on the ground, uppon a Carpet, and his servant standeth by readie with the Bettele which he continually chaweth, and spitteth out the Iuyce, and the remainder thereof, into a Silver Basin; standing by him, or else holden by some one of his slaves or [his] wives, and this is a great honour to the Ambassadour, specially if he profereth him of the same Bettele that he himselfe doth eate. To conclude, it is their common use to eate it, which because it is their dayly exercise, and that they consume so much,^[39] I have made ye longer discourse, the better to understand it, although somewhat hath beene said thereof in other places. The Kings and Lords of India use pilles made of Arecca, Cate and Camphora, with beaten Lignum aloes,^[40] and a little Amber, which they eate altogether with Bettele and Chalke, in steede of Arecca.

“Some mixe Bettele with Licium, some and those of the richer and mightier sort with Campher, others with Lignum aloes, Muske and Amber Grijs, and beeing so prepared, is pleasant of taste and maketh a sweet breath. There are some that chaw Arecca either with Cardamomum, or with Cloves. Within the lande farre from the Sea, those leaves are solde verie deare. It is said that the Kind of Decan Mizamoxa^[41] spendeth yearely thereof\ to the valew of above thirtie thousand M ilr eyes. This is their banquetting stuff e, and is given them by travellers,^[42] and the Kings give it to their Subjects. To the rich they give thereof being mixed with their owne hands, and to others [they send it] by their servants. When they send any man of Ambassage or otherwise^[43]; there are certaine Silke Purses full of prepared Bettele delivered unto him, and no man may depart before it be delivered him, for it is a [signe or] token of his passe port.

 

Abū-l-Faẓl ‘Allāmī (1596-1605)

Abū-1-Faẓl, the learned minister of Akbar, gives us interesting details about the various kinds of betel leaves. He first refers to the areca-nut palm, which he describes as graceful and slender like the cypress. “The wind often bends it, so that its crown touches the ground; but it rises up again. There are various kinds. The fruit when eaten raw, tastes somewhat like an almond, but gets hard when ripe. They eat it with betel leaves.”

After describing various fruits he proceeds to the betel leaf^[44]:

“The Betel leaf is, properly speaking, a vegetable, but connoisseurs call it an excellent fruit. Mīr Khusrau of Dihlī in one of his verses says: ‘It is an excellent fruit like the flower of a garden, the finest fruit of Hindūstān.’ The eating of the leaf renders the breath agreeable, and repasts odorous. It strengthens the gums, and makes the hungry satisfied and the satisfied hungry.

I shall describe some of the various kinds:

1. The leaf called Bilahrī is white and shining, and does not make the tongue harsh and hard. It tastes best of all kinds. After it has been taken away from the creeper, it turns white, with some care, after a month, or even after twenty days, when greater efforts are made.
2. The Kākēr leaf is white with spots, and full, and has hard veins. When much of it is eaten, the tongue gets hard.
3. The Jaiswār leaf does not get white, and is profitably sold mixed with other kinds.
4. The Kapūrī leaf is yellowish, hard, and full of veins, but has a good taste and smell.
5. The Kapūrkānt leaf is yellowish green, and pungent like pepper; it smells like camphor. You could not eat more than ten leaves. It is to be had at Banāras; but even there it does not thrive in every soil.
6. The Banglah leaf is broad, full, hard, plushy, hot and pungent.

“The cultivation is as follows: In the month of Chait (March-April), about New-Year’s time, they take a part of a creeper four or five fingers long with Karhañj leaves on it and put it below the ground. From fifteen to twenty days after, according as leaves and knots form, a new creeper will appear from a knot, and as soon as another knot forms, a leaf will grow up. The creepers and new leaves form for seven months, when the plant ceases to grow. No creeper has more than thirty leaves. As the plant grows, they prop it with canes, and cover it, on the top and the sides, with wood and straw, so as to rear it up in the shade. The plant requires continually to be watered, except during the rains. Sometimes they put milk, sesame oil and its seeds pressed out, about the plant. There are seven kinds of leaves, known under nine names:

1. The Karhañj leaf, which they separate for seedlings, and call Pēṛī. The new leaf is called Gadautah.
2. The Nautī leaf.
3. The Bahutī leaf.
4. The Chhīw leaf.
5. The Adhinīdā leaf.
6. The Agahniyah or Lēwār leaf.
7. The Karhañj leaf itself.

With the exception of the Gadautah, the leaves are taken away from the creeper when a month old. The last kind of leaf is eaten by some; others keep it for seedlings: they consider it very excellent, but connoisseurs prefer the Pēṛī.

“A bundle of 11,000 leaves was formerly called Lahāsah, which name is now given to a bundle of 14,000. Bundles of 200 are called Dhōlī; a lahāsah is made up of dhōlīs. In winter they turn and arrange the leaves after four or five days; in summer every day. From five to twenty-five leaves, and sometimes more, are placed above each other, and adorned in various ways. They also put some betel-nut and kat’h on one leaf, and some chalk paste on another, and roll them up: this is called a bērah. Some put camphor and musk into it, and tie both leaves with a silk thread. Others put single leaves on plates, and use them thus. They are also prepared as a dish.”

We can pass over the brief accounts given by other travellers of the first half of the seventeenth century, as giving us no new information. I refer to such men as François Pyrard of Laval^[45] (1601-1608); Sir Thomas Roe^[46] (1615-1617); Edward Terry^[47] (1616-1619); and Pietro Della Valle^[48] (1623).

We can pause, however, for a moment with Peter Mundy.

 

Peter Mundy (1628-1634)

In Relation VI he speaks of “feilds of Paan or Beetle,” but in Relation VIII (1632) he speaks of “Bettlenutt,” thus confounding the names of the two ingredients, a mistake which has been faithfully copied ever since. As we shall see very shortly, Fryer made matters worse by calling the betel-leaf “Arach” and the areca-seeds “Bettle.”

Under the heading “Paan what it is,”^[49] Mundy writes as follows^[50]:

“Wee also sawe some feilds of Paan, which is a kinde of leafe much used to bee eaten in this Countrie, thus : First they take a kinde of Nutt called Saparoz, and commonly with us Bettlenutt, which, broken to peeces, they infold in one of the said leaves, and soe put it into their mouthes. Then take they of the said leaves, and puttinge a little slaked lyme on them, they also put into their mouthes, and after them other, untill their mouthes are reasonably filled, which they goe champinge, swalloweng downe the Juice till it be drie; then they spit it out. It is accompted a grace to eat it up and downe the Streets and [is] used by great men. There is noe vesitt, banquett, etts. without it, with which they passe away the tyme, as with Tobaccoe in England; but this is very wholsome, sweete in smell, and stronge in Taste. To Strangers it is most comonly given att partinge, soe that when they send for Paane, it is a signe of dispeedinge, or that it is tyme to be gon.”

In Relation XXII Mundy gives an interesting description of “A Pepper gardein,” and correctly explains how the black pepper vine, Piper nigrum, is planted at the foot of the areca-palm.^[51] He gives a sketch of the pepper garden,^[52] and after explaining how the pepper plant grows upon the “truncke of the Betele nutt tree,” describes his drawing of the areca-palm itself as follows:

“... an Arrecca or betelnutt tree, with the Fruite growing outt aloft in the trunck or stemme. The nutt it selffe, when it is ripe in the huske, is of an orenge coullour, much bigger then a great Wallnutt. The kernell (which is only estimated) is a little bigger then a Nuttmegg, the inside greyish with white veynes. This is thatt thatt is eaten with Paan and is used in Most of the easterne parts of the world. The paan leafe is like the pepper leafe and groweth uppe somwhatt after thatt manner, requiring a support.”

 

Bernier (1656-1668)

François Bernier mentions^[53] the method by which poison can be conveyed in a betel “chew.” A young nobleman, by name Nazerkan, was suspected by the Mogul of an illicit love affair. “As a mark of distinguished favour the King presented the betel, in the presence of the whole court, to the unsuspecting youth, which he was obliged immediately to masticate, agreeably to the custom of the country....

Little did the unhappy lover imagine that he had received poison from the hand of the smiling Monarch, but indulging in dreams of future bliss, he withdrew from the palace, and ascended his paleky.^[54] Such, however, was the activity of the poison, that he died before he could reach home.”

Bernier also speaks (p. 283) of the piquedans, or spittoons, “of porcelain or silver... very necessary in connection with betel-chewing.”

 

Niccolao Manucci (1653-1708)

The account of the effects of betel-chewing on a Westerner, who was entirely unacquainted with the custom, is given by the Venetian traveller, Manucci,^[55] who visited Sūrat in 1653.

“But among other things I was much surprised to see that almost everybody was spitting something red as blood. I imagined it must be due to some complaint of the country, or that their teeth had become broken. I asked an English lady what was the matter, and whether it was the practice in this country for the inhabitants to have their teeth extracted. When she understood my question, she answered that it was not any disease, but [due to] a certain aromatic leaf called in the language of the country pān, or in Portuguese, betele. She ordered some leaves to be brought, ate some herself, and gave me some to eat. Having taken them, my head swam to such an extent that I feared I was dying. It caused me to fall down; I lost my colour, and endured agonies; but she poured into my mouth a little salt, and brought me to my senses. The lady assured me that everyone who ate it for the first time felt the same effects.

“Betel, or pān, is a leaf similar to the ivy leaf, but the betel leaf is longer; it is very medicinal and eaten by everybody in India. They chew it along with ‘arrecas’ (areca), which physicians call Avelans Indicas (Indian filberts), and a little catto (kath or kattha), which is the dried juice of a certain plant that grows in India. Smearing the betel leaf with a little of the kath, they chew them together, which makes the lips scarlet and gives a pleasant scent. It happens with the eaters of betel, as to those accustomed to take tobacco, that they are unable to refrain from taking it many times a day. Thus the women of India, whose principal business it is to tell stories and eat betel, are unable to remain many minutes without having it in their mouths. It is an exceedingly common practice in India to offer betel leaf by way of politeness, chiefly among the great men, who, when anyone pays them a visit, offer betel at the time of leaving as a mark of good will, and of the estimation in which they hold the person who is visiting them. It would be a great piece of rudeness to refuse it.”

 

Fryer (1672-1681).

We now come to John Fryer, who gives us the following curious account of the areca-palm^[56]:

“Beetle, which... must not be slipt by in silence....

“It rises out of the Ground to twelve or fourteen Feet heighth, the Body of it green and slender, jointed like a Cane, the Boughs flaggy and spreading, under whose Arms it brings forth from its pregnant Womb (which bursts when her Month is come) a Cluster of Green Ṅuts, like Wallnuts in Green Shells, but different in the Fruit; which is hard when dried, and looks like a Nutmeg.

“The Natives chew it with Chinam (Lime of calcined Oyster-Shells) and Arach, a Convolvulus with a Leaf like the largest Ivy, for to preserve their Teeth, and correct an unsavoury Breath. If swallowed, it inebriates as much as Tobacco. Thus mixed, it is the only Indian Entertainment, called Pawn”

Facing page 110 of Crooke’s edition are Fryer’s drawings and diagrams of the areca-palm, areca-nuts, mango-trees, etc. He then describes an areca-palm conservatory by comparing it to a cathedral in the following way:

“These Plants set in a Row, make a Grove that might delude the Fanatick Multitude into an Opinion of their being sacred; and were not the Mouth of that Grand Impostor Hermetically sealed up, where Christianity is spread, these would still continue, as it is my Fancy they were of old, and may still be the Laboratories of his Fallacious Oracles: For they, masquing the face of Day, beget a solemn reverence, and melancholy habit in them that resort to them; by representing the more inticing Place of Zeal, a Cathedral, with all its Pillars and Pillasters, Walks and Choirs; and so contrived that whatever way you turn, you have an even Prospect.”

In a note on the passage Crooke says that such places are believed to be semi-sacred, no one in a state of ceremonial impurity being admitted, as the plant is supposed to be most susceptible to spirit influence. (See further, p.271n².)

This concludes the evidence on betel-chewing as afforded by travellers to India up to the end of the seventeenth century.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries travellers and missionaries to India merely confirm the accounts of previous observers, and we can pass them over as unnecessary to our present inquiry. It was not until government officials began a detailed inquiry among the tribes and castes of all parts of India that it was realized to what a great extent betel leaves and areca-nuts entered into the everyday life of the Hindu. Although we shall obtain a little information from Northern India, we shall find that it becomes more abundant as we travel southwards.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mahāsīlava-Jātaka, No. 51, Cambridge Edition, vol. i, p. 132; and Aṇḍabhūta-Jātaka, No. 62, ditto, vol. i, p. 152.

[2]:

See, e.g., Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, 314; and Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā (Burliṅgame’s translation, Harvard Orient. Series, vol. xxx, p. 49).

[3]:

E.g. Aupapātckā Sūtra, sect. 38* in Leumann’s edition, p. 50.

[4]:

Epigraphia Indica, vol. xi, p. 329, etc.

[5]:

Bhiṣagratna’s translation, vol. i, p. 56 2.

[6]:

See J. von Sontheimer, Grosse Zusammenstellung über die Kräfte der bekannten einfachen Heil- und Nahrungsmittel von Abu Mohammed Abdallah Ben Ahmed aus Malaga bekannt unter den Namen Ebn Baithar, Stuttgart, 1840-1842, vol. i, pp. 200, 201. I am indebted to Mr W. H. Schoff for drawing my attention to ‘Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad.

[7]:

Translated by Hirth and Rockhill, St Petersburg, 1911, pp. 72, 73. For the other references see pp. 47, 60, 77, 78, 96, 155 and l 60.

[8]:

An i weighed 20 taels, and seems to have been used only for weighing gold.

[9]:

I have already (Vol. II, pp. 302-303) quoted the last portion of this passage in connection with the poison-damsels.

[10]:

See the Hakluyt Society edition, p. 144. I am shortly editing a reprint of this important work for the Argonaut Press, with an Introduction by Sir Richard Temple.

[11]:

See Dames’ edition for the Hakluyt Society, vol. i, pp. 168-169.

[12]:

Hakluyt’s Voyages, MacLehose’s edition, Glasgow, 1904, vol. v, p. 391.

[13]:

Sinclair’s translation, Hakluyt Society, 1902, pp. 199-200.

[14]:

The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies. From the Old English translation of 1598, London, 1885, vol. ii, p. 62 et seq.

[15]:

Orig. Dutch: (add) “in the house.”

[16]:

Orig. Dutch: “used.”

[17]:

Orig. Dutch: “chewed.”

[18]:

Orig. Dutch: “high.”

[19]:

Orig. Dutch: “Checanijñ.”

[20]:

Orig. Dutch: “little ball.”

[21]:

Orig. Dutch: “remedy.”

[22]:

Schorbucke (Dutch, “scheurbuyck”) is scurvy.

[23]:

Orig, Dutch: “the.”

[24]:

Orig. Dutch: (add) “and bathe.”

[25]:

Orig. Dutch: “when the women or Indians.”

[26]:

Orig. Dutch: “on all corners of the streets and shops.”

[27]:

Orig. Dutch: “all evil humours and fiegmaticke” (as substantive).

[28]:

Orig. Dutch: “commonly.”

[29]:

See p. 62.

[30]:

Read: “Canara” or “Cuncam.”

[31]:

I.e. Hindustāni, “pān,” properly “leaf” (Sanskrit, “parṇa”).

[32]:

Orig. Dutch: “Malaijen” (the country of the Malays).

[33]:

I.e. Sirih.

[34]:

Orig. Dutch: “Tembul.”

[35]:

Orig. Dutch: “translated.”

[36]:

Orig. Dutch: “they give more sound.”

[37]:

Orig. Dutch: “Clif” (ivy).

[38]:

Annot. D. Paludani.

[39]:

Orig. Dutch: “love it so much.”

[40]:

Orig. Dutch: “crushed Linaloes” (which is the Portuguese name for L. also).

[41]:

Orig. Dutch: “Nisamoxa”=Niẕām Ṣāh, residing in Ahmadnagar.

[42]:

Orig. Dutch: “this they make a present of to travellers.”

[43]:

Orig. Dutch: “when anybody will travel.”

[44]:

‘Aīn I Akbarī by Abū-l-Faẓl ‘Ạllāmī, translated from the Original Persian, H. Blochmann, Calcutta, 1873, vol. i, pp. 72-73.

[45]:

See Gray’s edition for the Hakluyt Society, 1887, 1889, vol. ii, pt. ii, pp. 362-363.

[46]:

See Foster’s edition for the Hakluyt Society, 1899, vol. i, pp. 19-20; and vol. ii, p. 453n.

[47]:

Foster, Early Travels in India, p. 300.

[48]:

See Grey’s edition for the Hakluyt Society, 1892, vol. i, pp. 36-37.

[49]:

In the Harl. MS. 2286 Mundy has added “and the use of it.”

[50]:

See Temple’s edition for the Hakluyt Society, vol. ii, pp. 96-97.

[51]:

Even Sir Richard Temple speaks of the “betel palm”!

[52]:

Temple, op. cit., vol. iii, pt. i, p. 80.

[53]:

See Constable and Smith’s edition, Oxford, 1914, pp. 13-14.

[54]:

See Ocean, Vol. III, p.14n¹.

[55]:

Irvine’s translation, vol. i, p. 62.

[56]:

See Crooke’s edition for the Hakluyt Society, vol. i, pp. 110-111. Other references occur in vol. i, pp. 119, 136, 143, 151; vol. ii, pp. 42, 83, 96.