Part 3 - Details of Vegetables in the Mahabharata

Vegetables, along with roots and fruits, were an important parts of the ancient diet, particularly of of the forest-dwelling hermits who shunned flesh (1.38.7; III.4.3,82.11, 184.24; V.38.5; XII.133.7,208.21; XIII.53.16-19). Very few of the vegetables, however, can be identified, being most of the time refered to by such POONA LIBRARY

- 122 general terms as 'saka' and 'mula', and rarely ever named individually. Two types are distinguished, those that grew wild in the forest, and those that were cultivated in villages (I.165.9). of the few vegetables named individually : 1) Palandy 11) Lasuna : (Allium copa), Onions and : Garlic were the two more familiar ones, looked down upon, as they are even today, by the more orthodox section of the society, and prohibited during sraddha rites (XIII.91. 38-41). However, the North-Western Bahlikes, addicted to liquor and flesh, greatly relished them, enjoying garlic with beef, and raw onions with mutton (VIII.30.15, 29-32). Most meat preparations, even today, are made with onions and garlic, which tend to destroy the raw smell of meat, with their own strong smell, one of the reasons why they are themselves avoided. In any case, in Karna's censure of the Bahlikes, there is an inherent strong contempt for these grossly lascivious and unhygenic food-habits. Also debarred from sraddha rites were four other vegetables (XIII.91.38-41):- 111) Griana Carrot (?). There is a slight difference of opinion about the correct identity of this herb. In the 4th

- 123 Century A.D. medical treatise of Susruta, it is identified with a small variety of garlic, and described as favorite of the Yavanas. A much later writer Dhanvantari (6 th Century A.D.), also looks down on it as a 'aleccha-kanda', a tuber liked by the non-Aryans (Om Prakash 1961 : 280). Thus the noteworthy thing about grnjana is the strong taboo against it that has survived through the centuries. In this respect, it would be more appropriate to take it as a variety of garlic, rather than as carrot-root. Apte, in his dictionary (1965: 410) offers an interesting alternative. He takes grnjana to be the top portion of the hemp plant, chewed to produce an inebriating effect, known in modern times as ganja. iv) Saubhanjanaka: (Moringa pterygesperma), whose roots, flowers and leaves were v) Sitapaki : all edible. a kind of potherb, probably (Sida cardifolia) or (Abrus precatorius). vi) Alabu of the Kusmanda fati: a kind of pumpin-gourd (Beninkasa cerifera). vii) Another type of gourd was simply Alabu, the Bottle - gourd (Langenaria

= 124 vulgaris). It is refered to only twice, and both the times figuratively and out of context with food (II.59.11; III.104.18). viii) closely affiliated to alabu is Alambusa; the red Pumpkin, which is also refered to figuratively, the killing of a Raksasa compared to the crushing of a ripe pumpkin (VII.84.29). ix) Kalasaka : (Morava Korinii), was another leafy vegetable, whose roots were also consumed (XIII.63.23). A few other leafy vegetables are also mentioned, but as protected ones (XIII.107.84). They are: x) Pippala : (Ficus Religiosa). x 1) Vata : (Ficus indica). xi 4) Udumbare : (Fieus glomerata). and xiii) Sanfeake : (Crotaloria juncea) Of these, Pippala, Vata, and Udumbara, are regarded as sacred even today, and were much valued by the ancients for their fruit and their shade. Sana plant

- 125 was the raw-material for jute fibre and therefore, extremely useful. One has to, however, keep in mind that there is no direct reference to these being utilized for food. Yet the very fact that a prohibition was necessiated indicates that these trees were, to some extent at least, in danger of indiscriminate consumption by humans around. All of these vegetables, with the exception of Kalasaka, Saubhanjanaka, and tapaki, were known to very early literary texts. Alabu was known to the Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda (Mac adonell and Keith 1912: I-38). Onions (palandu) and garlics (lasuna and grijana) were known to the Sutras, and were avoided by respectable people, and forbidden in religion rites. The Indian Fig trees, Vata, Pippala, and Udumbara were sacred and protected right from the time of the Sutras. Vata as Nyagrodha and Pippala as Asvattha, were sacred even to the Vedic Samhitas. Sana too, was known to the Kalpasutras, probably even earlier to the Atharvaveda (Macdonell and Keith 1912: II-350). But it is Caraka who refers to its edible flowers (Om Prakash 1961: 277). Kalasaka too, is mentioned by Caraka (Om Prakash

- 126 1961 : 150) as a leaf vegetable, while Kusmanda is refered to by Susruta (Monier Williams 1899 : 298). Thus once again, the Mahabharata data has close parallels, as in the case of pulses, with the Sutra literature, but at the same time it is quite obvious that vegetables were a very insignificant part of the ancient diet.