Part 8 - Details of Dairy Products in the Mahabharata

A number of dairy products were consumed and they formed a very important part of the diet. (1) The most widely used was ofcourse milk, cow's milk. Large herds of cattle were maintained by kings and looked after by professional cowherds (IV.33.7). Many of these were stationed in cowherd villages (ghosas), on the outskirts of the kingdom and adjoining the forest (III.113.16). Occasionally the king would make a trip to see the herd and brand the young ones produced (III.228.4-6). Similar herds of buffaloes do not figure anywhere in the Mahabharata The buffalo (mahisa) e mainly an animal of the wilds, tracked down and hunted ruthlessly for its flesh, along with other wild species, particularly the boar and the deer (III.229.10-12, 253.1). was A verse from the Santiparva (XII.37.20) forbids the use of certain food items to a Brahmin, and the list includes the milk of sheep (edaka), horse (asvi), donkey (khari), camel (ustri), deer (mrgi), and a cow which has calved recently. Since the above prohibition is valid

- 143 only for the Brahmins, the other castes were, evidently free to utilize the milk of many a milch animals, besides the cow. We know for sure, from the Mahabharata itself, that the people of the extreme North-West, of the Bahlika country, were very fond of sheep, donkey and camel milk, animals typical of this region. The Indians of the East, however, seemed to have abhorred the idea of any other milk but that of the cow, this being one of the reasons why Karna mocked at the 'unclean' habits and tastes of the Bahlikas (VIII.30.39). Milk, though an essential part of the diet, was hardly within the means of all. Therefore, the gift of a cow was the most sought after, and it was generally the king alone who was in a position to give away hundreds of cows to needy Brahmins (1.207.3, 213.62; II.4.3; XIII.61. 61). The Mahabharata contains the touching story of sage Upamanyu and his brother sage Dhaumya, who were deceived by their mother, day after day, with flour-mixed water as milk, because they lived in a forest hermitage and were enable to maintain a cow (XII.14.77-83). (11) Curds (dadhi) (III.93.19; IV.12.8), (111) Butter (navanita) (1.1.201; XII.161.34), and (iv) Butter-milk (udasvita) (XII.161.34),

- 144 were some of the other dairy products mentioned in the Epic. Curds were often combined with cereals, particularly with barley groats (saktu) (XII.221.36; XIII.107.85-86). (v) The most coveted of all dairy products was ghee or ghrta, also known as aiva and sarpisa. It was a favorite food of the gods, used in almost all religious ceremonies specially to light the sacrificial fire (1.176. 31; XIII.64.7, 77.20). It was considered auspicious (VII.58.20), a symbol of plenty and prosperity, posessing the finest medicinal properties, bestowing strength, good looks, long life, and freedom from maladies (XIII.64.8-10, 65.8-11). Therefore, underdeveloped embreyos, as those of Gandhari and the wife of King Sagara were kept in ghrta-filled jars, to be blessed, in course of time, with hundreds of strong, healthy sons (I.107.18; III.104.20-21). Ghrta was also kept in the bedchamber of a woman about to deliver a child (XIV.67.4). Thus ghrta was the food par excellence in the Epic, while ghrta and honey (madhu) together, stood for prosperity and happiness and for all that is good in life (1.87.14; XII.165.14). All these dairy products were either taken individually or in combination with each other e.g. milk and ghee mixed together with a little dash of honey as a sweetning or they were combined with cereals and pulses

= 145 (IV.12.6, 8; VII.58.16; VIII.28.12; XII.165.14; XIII.63. 5-35). As far back a literary evidence can go, right back to the days of the Rgveda, milk and its products have always occupied a very important place in the diet of the ancient Indians. The Mahabharata merely adds to this evidence. The only interesting aspect is the absence of any reference to buffalo-milk, although the flesh of the wild-buffalo was very commonly eaten. There is no outright condemnation of buffalo-milk either, as in the case of some other animals i.e. the donkey (XII.306.49). It is therefore, very likely that buffaloes were known to the ancient Indians only in the wild state, and no domesticated. large, herds of buffaloes were maintained as those of cows. Thus, it is not surprising that the buffalo (mahiga) occurs in the Mahabharata almost exclusively as a forest-dwelling beast, widely hunted for its flesh. Archeological evidence, on the other hand, has brought forth large number of bones of the Indian buffalo (Bos bubalis), from almost every important site, competing closely with those of the cow and the bull. Many are charred and split, indicating that the flesh of the buffalo was very much in demand. Wheather these remains were of the domesticated buffalo or its wild counterpart is extremely difficulty to say for as pointed out by Allchin (1969: 319), on the authority of Watt (1908 : 732-3), the buffalo is still regarded as a semi-domestic

- 146 animal who easily mates with the wild ones. Thus there is very little chance of separating the remains found in excavations as those of the domesticated and the wild buffalo. They are probably hopelessly mixed together. If literature be any guide, then it is more likely that the buffalo was as yet to be completely domesticated and used as an milch animal.