Essay name: Archaeology and the Mahabharata (Study)
Author:
Gouri Lad
Affiliation: Deccan College Post Graduate And Research Institute / Department of AIHC and Archaeology
This study examines the Mahabharata from an archaeological perspective. The Maha-Bbharata is an ancient Indian epic written in Sanskrit鈥攊t represents a vast literary work with immense cultural and historical significance. This essay aims to use archaeology to verify and contextualize the Mahabharata's material aspects.
Chapter 4 - Food and Drinks
33 (of 95)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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that their restricted and meagre appearance suggests a
later incorporation. Yet, at the same time, it is obvious
that all the spices mentioned in the Epic were already
known to literature by about the 3rd 4th centuries B.C.
VII. SWEETS
(1) The best known and the most extensively
used sweet was madhu or honey. It was included in every
feast (II.4.2), in every meal (III.157.7-8; VIII.28.12;
XII.133.7), in alms given to Brahmins (II.5.106; VII.58.16),
in sraddha offerings (XIII.88.15), in many different food
preparations (XIII.63.26-27), and in offerings to gods.
It was one of the most important ingredients in the
preparation of intoxicating drinks, including the famous
Soma, so much so, that in the Rgveda "honey is a less
definite sense, the word 'madhu' more often denoting Soma
or mead" (a liquor made from fermented honey, milk, water
and spices). Madhu as mead was an ancient concept, with
parallels in many Indo-Aryan languages (Macdonell and
Keith 1912: II.123-124). In later literature, however,
the sense of honey was more or less firmly established,
but even in the Mbh, there are places where madhu does
occur as an intoxicating beverage (II.45.26, 47.11;
VII.5.30, 87.61; XIII.23.25; XV.1.19). Conspicuous among
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