Spices in cooking
The second most significant event that has happened to cooking (since the invention of cooking itself) is the use of spices (the first being the use of salt, the most important taste enhancer). Use of spices made cooking an art and dishes delicious. Parry (1969) writes, “for the western people the coming of the pungent and aromatic spices of the orient was the greatest boon to their cooking. New methods of preserving food quickly came into existence, dishes took on a fullness of flavour previously unknown; beverages glowed with a redolent tang, and life experienced a new sense of warmth and satisfaction”.
Spices have various effects when used in food; they impart flavour, pungency and colour, they also have anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, pharmaceutical and nutritional properties (Table 10). In addition to the above direct effects, use of spices can also lead to complex secondary effects such as salt reduction, sugar reduction, improvement of texture and prevention of food spoilage (Table 11, 12). The basic effects of spice when used in cooking fall into four categories: flavouring, pungency, colouring, and deodorizing; the last one may overlap with the other three. Each spice performs at least one of these functions. However the predominant and the most important function is flavouring, and this quality is dependent on the essential oil components in the spices, while the pungency and colouring characters depend on von-volatile components such as alkaloids, carotenoids etc. The predominant taste and flavour compounds present in some of the spices are given in Table 13.
Most spices do have more than one function when used in food. Often each spice has a major function and one or more sub-functions (Table 13). A typical example is red chilly, the basic function of this spice is to give pungency, and it also has the function of colouring. Use of spices is also influenced by the type of cooking, type of food (vegetarian, non-vegetarian, sea food, different types of meat etc), region and nation. Certain spices are almost exclusively used in certain regions. Parsley for example is used primarily in western cooking, celery particularly in Italian and French cooking, vanilla in Italian cooking, cardamom, cloves, turmeric, tamarind and asafoetida almost exclusively in Indian cooking etc. Most spices have regional preferences; perhaps black pepper is the only universally used spice in abundance by all regions and all groups.
Spices are also used for deodorizing or masking the smell of raw materials. The flavour of the spice does not itself come into play in this case as much as the ability of the spice to mask an undesirable odour. This deodorizing / masking action can occur in three different ways: Chemical (chemically changing or neutralizing the smell); physical (by absorption or adsorption of the smell giving compound); or sensational (where a strong spice smell covers or masks an unpleasant smell). The spices belonging to the family Labiatae (Lamiaceae) are very effective at deodorizing because they have both chemical and sensational deodorizing functions and enhance the deodorizing / masking effect very effectively (Table 14).
Some spices are used in food more for imparting an attractive colour than for enhancing taste (e.g. Paprika); while turmeric is used primarily for colour, but also imparts flavour to the dish. The colouring effect of spice can be manipulated by appropriate cooking method. The tone of the colour depends upon the nature of the colouring matter present, its cooking method etc. The major colour components of spices are given in Table 15.
Apart from their use in cooking; spices are also used in imparting flavour to alcoholic beverages (Table 16).
SPICES IN FOOD PRESERVATION
Spices play a dual function, taste/ flavour enhancement and for food preservation by preventing or delaying spoilage of food. Food deteriorates during storage for various reasons, one of which is the oxidation of oil or fat contained in it. Fats are known to react with oxygen in the air to generate peroxides, which are further oxidized and decomposed into low molecular weight alcohol and aldehydes, resulting in rancidity. Studies have shown that many spices have antioxidant properties that can prevent the formation of peroxides. The first patent approved in 1938 specified that spice oils such as clove oil could prevent the oxidation of cooking oils. Of the various spices, rosemary retarded rancidity the most, followed by sage, ginger, nutmeg, thyme, clove, mace and oregano. Black pepper was shown to have more antioxidant activity when used in mayonnaise or salad dressing than did rosemary (Table 17).
Spoilage of food is also due to the action of microbes such as bacteria and fungi. Many spices possess antimicrobial action (either bacteriostatic or fungistatic or both) and spices have been used from ancient times for food preservation. In ancient Greece and Rome, coriander was used to extend the preservation period of meat and mint was used to prevent milk from spoiling. Many spices have also been shown to possess antimicrobial activity (Table 18). Mustard, clove, cinnamon, rosemary, sage, and their essential oils possess remarkable bacteriostatic and fungistatic properties. These properties are found in the volatile oil components of the essential oils.
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND METABOLIC EFFECTS
Spices are nutritionally not important as they are used in very small quantities. One may then ask what exactly is then the effect of spices in the human body. Spices do have a variety of physiological effects and their presence in food is invaluable for more than one reasons. A quick glace through the literature will give us the following effects:
On digestion and absorption: Some pungent spices have an effect on the digestive function. These effects can be of three types: (i) promotion of chemical digestion by promoting secretion of digestive enzymes; (ii) promotion of physical digestion by promoting digestive tract movement, and (iii) promotion of speed of absorption by increasing blood circulation in the digestive tract. It is well known that saliva is increased by the intake of spices, especially the pungent spices. The amount of saliva normally secreted per day is 1-1.5 litres. This secretion is promoted considerably by spices, and the non-volatile component of the spice (Hirasa and Takimasa, 1998). The peristaltic movement of the esophagus aids digestion in the stomach, and this movement is under the control of the vagus nerve and the sympathetic nerves. Some spices, especially chilly, have an effect on the movement of the digestive tract. Capsaicin in the chillies affects the nerves of the small intestine, releasing substance P. This is a neurotransmitter, affects the muscles and the cholinergic nerves directly, leading to the secretion of acetylcholine, which in turn affect the vagus nerve. Besides capsaicin, both piperine and zingiberine have similar effect on the vagus nerve.
Efffect on circulatory system: The blood flow in the blood vessels is regulated by the blood vessel muscle, and is under the control of the vasoconstrictor nerve, a sympathetic nerve. Spices do not affect the sympathetic nerves of the heart under normal intake concentration; but such quantity of compounds increase or decrease the blood pressure of peripheral blood vessels resulting in a change in the amount of blood flow. Norepinephrine secretion also occurs when capsaicin, piperine and zingiberine were infused. It is believed that the rise in temperature of the body surface caused by the intake of some spices is due to transfer of body heat from inside the body to the body surface by the increase of the amount of blood flow.
Metabolic regulation: Metabolism is generally classified as catabolism and anabolism. Spices affect anabolism and many spices and their components promote the anabolic process. The pungent spices are involved in the catabolic process also. It is known that pungent spices increase the activity of the sympathetic nerve, which results in the activation of catabolic channels such:
Sympathetic nerve adrenal gland secretion of adrenaline
Sympathetic nerve brown adipose tissue secretion of adrenaline
This process would promote catabolic events, including lipid metabolism, energy metabolism, and generation of body heat etc. Pungent compounds in pungent spices have an effect on the metabolic regulation as well as absorption and digestion. The mechanism of thermogenesis is characterized by acting on the metabolism of a living body through an autonomic ganglion and endocrine system (Hirasa and Takemasa, 1998).
Much studies have gone into the physiological action of ginger in biological systems.’ Gingerols are found to be potent inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis, and show potent ionotropic effect on isolated atria of guinea pigs. Shogaol in goal is known to inhibit cyclooxygenase avtivity. (For a detailed discussion on this topic refer Kimura et al., 2005; Remadevi et al., 2005). The biological actions of the spice componentrs are dealt with in the following section on spices as bioceuticals. .
WEIGHT CONTROL EFFECTS
Several studies indicated the dietary effect of spices, especially the pungent spices. Appropriate intake of pungent spices may help in weight control. When a small amount of a pungent spice is ingested, energy consumption is increased due to thermogenesis. When capsaicin from chillies is mixed with the feed given to rats, their weight tends to decrease even though they eat much more than they do of the normal feed containing no capsaicin. (Hirasa and Takemasa, 1998). Kwada (1986) assumed that the induction of thermogenesis by pungent spices would influence energy metabolism resulting in a decline in the accumulation of somatic lipid. Henry and Emery (1986) found that addition of pungent spice to a breakfast item increases the metabolic rate by 25%. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has an effect on diet-induced thermogenesis and it is known that functional abnormalities of BAT often cause obesity in animals. The studies of Yoshida et al. (1988) indicated that pungent compounds and food spiced with pungent spices activated the BAT function and hence could be useful in mitigating obesity.
Capsaicin and its homologues are absorbed easily in the body and dissolve in blood immediately. These compounds affect the adrenal gland through the central nervous system to promote the secretion of epinephrine. Glycogen from the liver is broken down and the level of sugar in the blood rises. This sugar serves as an energy source, after which lipid is consumed rather than sugar. When energy metabolism shifts from sugar to lipid, both the level of sugar in the blood, and the amount of free fatty acids are high, and the secretion of insulin is depressed due to the secretion of adrenaline. This metabolic process is ideal for endurance sports (Hirasa and Takemasa, 1998). Kim et al. (1995) studied the impact of pungent chillies on endurance using a rat model and concluded that this spice has a significant effect on endurance increase and in lowering weight gain. Chillies thus are capable of mitigating obesity.
The allicin and diallylsulfide present in garlic is known to increase appetite, suppress the growth of microbes in the intestine, and promote blood circulation. Allicin is also known to suppress aneurinase, an enzyme that decomposes vitamin B1. The sulfur containing spices do influence the metabolism by lowering the level of sugar in the blood, lowering the level of cholesterol, dissolving thrombin, hindering platelet aggregation, preventing hyperplasia, preventing arthritis, and promoting diuresis.
Other spices such as nutmeg, sage, oregano etc. are also having properties that influence the metabolism in mammals and humans.
Spices as Bioceuticals: Phytomolecular pharmacology
Plants are used as medicines because the chemical compounds present in them exerts one or more or manifold influence on the physiological and metabolic functioning of the consumers. The primary constituents of plants (carbobydrate, proteins, lipids) have nutritive properties, while the secondary metabolites (such as alkaloids, terpenoids etc) exert physiological influences. The ultimate use of a spice as a medicinal plant depends on this ifluence and to the extent of the effect exerted by one or a group of compounds present in that spice. A large number of compounds are present in each spice, and each of such compounds may or may not influence the physiology of the consumer. However very often these compounds may not be present in sufficient concentration to exert any notable effect, especially in the quantities they are commonly used in food. In pure form these compounds can exert significant influence on the physiological and metabolical functioning. Table 17 lists some of the more commonly occurring compounds in spices and their known pharmacological and physiological properties. Phytomolecular pharmacology is gaining more and more importance with the spread of neutraceuticals as a means of safe health care. In the context of the ‘return to nature’ movement that is gathering momentum in the present day world, this area of phytomolecular pharmacology becomes very important.
SPICES IN BEAUTY CARE
The importance of spices in cosmetics and perfumery as well as in beauty and body care are well known from ancient days. The cosmetics and perfumery industry are employing the oils of many spices including allspice, caraway, cinnamon, cassia, cloves, nutmeg, mace, rosemary, cardamom etc. for blending with other volatile and fixed oils to make alluring perfumes. The toiletries and allied industries also make use of spices and their fragrant oils for the manufacture of soaps, toothpastes, talcum powder, after-shave lotion, freshness sachets, toilet waters, powders, promenades, and hair oils.
Indian women have always realized the value of certain herbs as natural beauty care agents. Some of the more important spices used in beauty care is listed below:
Basil: A tablespoon of basil juice plus the same amount of honey taken in mornings daily would do wonders to skin complexion. Tea made of basil leaves with milk and sugar builds resistance to fever symptoms.
Fenugreek: Application of a paste of fenugreek powder in water on the face and washing it off after 30 minutes can keep wrinkles away.
Coriander: Coriander is a skin tonic. Face packs of coriander seed, nutmeg, cloves, honey, lemon peel and rose water is a good skin tonic and removes acne.
Cinnamon: Application of cinnamon with clove and pepper will remove most skin blemishes.
Turmeric: This bright yellow spice has a cooling and soothing effect on the skin. Application of turmeric paste on face and body improves the colour of the skin. Applying the paste made out of turmeric and henna on palms and feet in decorative manner by the women folk is prevalent in most parts of India. For the Indian tribal and rural flok, turmeric is the most important beauty aid. Turmeric is used to beautify a bride on her wedding day, a paste of turmeric and sandal wood powder in oil is applied on her body before bath. Turmeric paste has a depilatory and deodorant action. Applied to the face regularly keeps acne at bay. The raw rhizome juice is used against parasitic skin infection like ringworm and scabies. Turmeric is the main ingredient for the manufacture of many cosmetic creams, antiseptic, anti-tanning and has got healing powers, good for skin pigmentation, makes skin transparent, glowing, maintains the pH factor, tightens the breast muscles, protects the skin from allergy and possesses the property of purifying the blood. Turmeric combined with sandal wood paste, saffron and a little oil was the magic face pack used by beauties of yester years to impart a golden glow to face. A face pack of turmeric, mixed with one-teaspoon honey and one spoon of ground almond and half a teaspoon of brewer’s yeast and rinsing it off with lukewarm water after 15 minutes is very useful for improving skin complexion.
Saffron is another important spice, which has been used from ancient times to improve the skin colour and complexion. Pregnant women take saffron in milk to improve the complexion of the newborn babies. Kashmiri women use a paste made of saffron flowers in rose water to improve complexion.
Pepper is also useful in beauty care, helpful in curing acne, good for haggard and sallow skin, activates blood circulation, stimulates follicles. It is an astringent, tightner and toner.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Spices in the socio-cultural life of Indians
Spices in the socio-religious life of India
The socio-cultural connections of spices with the Indian life are best exemplified by the folklores of the country. These folklores are remains of an ancient mythology that has survived the test of time so far. The folklores depict the legends, customs, beliefs, and traditions of the rural and tribal people of India. Many studies have gone into the cultural traditions of folklores (such as Hem Barua’s Folk songs of India). It was actually the British people who initially started documenting the folklore traditions existed in various parts of India. As in the folk songs of the rest of the world, love constitutes the principal theme of folk songs in India too. Plants and flowers were often used as symbols and similes for comparison to describe beauty and love. Occasionally we find the use of spices in such descriptions in folk songs. A folk song from Bihar describes the fair colour and fragrance perceptible in a healthy woman (translation):
Your legs are strong as pillars
And shine like yellow turmeric
Your hair smells of ajowan
The incense of your cloves
Fills the world….
Then again:
Your eyebrows are like sesame
Like the stripped seed the parting of your hair.
In folk songs turmeric and saffron were the most favoured spices. In a Konkini cradlesong a woman compares the colour of her child with that of turmeric:
Shall I call my child fair complexioned
Shall I call him turmeric black?
Spices are repeatedly mentioned in the folk songs of Kerala such as the Manjappattukal (yellow songs) and Vadakkan pattukal (northern songs). Cherusseri Namboothiri composed his masterpiece Krishnagatha almost towards the end of the middle ages where in he uses many references on spices. In one such passage, the poet describes the young Krishna of the Git-Govind legend (translation):
“ Dark as a dark rain cloud
His hair beautifully knotted
A flute in his hand
An anklet on his feet
And a thread across his chest
His clothes, the color of yellow turmeric”.
Many folksongs mention of young wives beautifying themselves by the application of turmeric. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste was infact the most important skin ointment and beauty aid for achieving a blemishless, glowing skin used by the ladies of the upper class Hindus
In Devendra Satyarthi’s collection of north Indian folk songs, a song from Kashmir alludes the saffron flowers in Pampore and the painful separation of the lass and her lover:
Do you remember that song of saffron?
My lover is on the way to Pampore
Where the flowers are in close embrace
But we are far removed from each other
Listen to my cry, listen to my cry…..
In a Maithili song the composer makes turmeric speak at the time of the birth of a son:
Says turmeric:
I shall colour,
I shall dye you, oh my child,
I shall dye Devaki’s head cloth
I shall give it my color….
The birth of a male child is celebrated with lot of festivities, and lot of traditions is attached to such festivities. In Maithili folk songs there are many examples of such festivities. One such traditional festivity follows like this: the new mother, on the sixth day after child birth is escorted to a courtyard for a ceremonial bath and she dresses in new cloth, put turmeric powder and kumkum on her forehead… and the dancers – the ladies in the nearby houses dance and sing:
The clever husband reaches the street
The street emits the smell of ajowain
The returning husband asks his wife
Who had delivered a male child?
Why do I smell of ajowain in the street?
Teasingly she replies
Because my mother in law has pain in the stomach
I hav’nt yet given birth to a child.
The clever husband reaches the courtyard
He smells of dry ginger
Have you delivered my darling, he asks?
Teasingly she replies
My sister –in-law has headache
Hence you smell ginger
My lord, I have not yet delivered…
………………………………….
The song concludes:
The clever husband reaches his wife’s room
I lost, you won my lord
The wife exclaims
Remember your promise
I have given birth to a male child.
The Punjabi folksongs also have sprinkling of spices. A well known one:
The baskets are full of pomegranates
Hearing our woes
Even the stones from the rocks weep
A young woman separated from her lover laments:
In the market are sold mustard leaves
You said you would come in fifteen days
But ages have passed since then
May you live long and endear none else….
………………………………………
Chilies are on sale in the market
I shall purchase a ticket
I shall go to Pindi
May you live long
The night is dark
I shall light an oil lamp….
Guru Golakh Nath was a renowned saint. He was once camping in a king’s garden and the door keeper describes the beauty of the Guru to the Queen like this:
A Sadhu has camped in the palace gardens
He is radiant like the sun
As if a thousand flowers were in bloom
Of Sweet marjoram mustard and jasmines.
Spices have also played a role in many superstitions and ritualistic beliefs that existed in many parts of India (as well as in other countries). In India a ritual is practiced even now on the Diwali day. After the men and children have gone to bed, the women beat and drive out “alakshmi” or “Moodevi”, who is the goddess of misfortune. The driving out ceremony is performed with small sticks and breaking red chilies and cutting sour lime.
In rural India in earlier times there was a test employed by midwives to confirm whether a woman is pregnant or not. The midwives insert a clove of garlic into the woman’s vagina or burn incense, myrrah and other aromatic substances near the entrance of the the sexual organs so that fumes envelope the woman’s lower part. If the woman failed to taste or smell the garlic or the aromatic vapours, she was pregnant. The ancient Indian books of love have also given many instances on the use of spices.
Spices also played important roles in the religions beliefs and practices of India. In Vishnupurana, we get the story of the origin of Tulsi, the plant held as most sacred to Lord Krishna. In fact, even now in north India, the cast Hindus on the eleventh day of Karthika lunar month (Oct – Nov) celebrate the Tulsi marriage with Vishnu; and this ceremony marks the opening of the annual marriage season among the high cast Hindus. It is also interesting to note that in northern India Tulsi is not used for worshipping Lord Ganesh (perhaps indicating the division of the Shaiva-Vaishnava cult.). Instead spices like turmeric; kumkum, yellow mustard, nutmeg and cloves are used. The Abhisheka ceremony requires the use of 18 articles, turmeric being one (Mahindran, 1982).
In the worship of Lord Shiva the high cast Hindus use cloves, cardomom and turmeric; for the worship of Saraswathi (goddess of learning) cloves, nutmeg, turmeric and cinnamon are required; for Kali (the goddess of destruction of evil) cloves and cardamom are needed. For propitiating planets such as Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu, Hindu scriptures prescribe black sesame seeds and yellow mustard seeds, and for Jupiter turmeric alone is enough (Vrat Purana).
In Rajasthan, in the Balaji temple (situated on the road from Udaipur to Nathdwara) only saffron is offered to the diety. The serpent worshippers of Kerala and other southern states use turmeric powder as the chief offering, the best example being the naga temple of Mannarsala, a small hamlet near the town Harippad, in the Aleppey district of Kerala. In the famous temple of Kodungallor, black pepper is among the offerings given to the goddess Kali. In those days it was also a practice to anoint the bodies of the expectant mother with turmeric mixed with oil. Turmeric was also associated intimately with wedding ceremonies. Dutt in his Materia Medica of Hindus says: “The rubbing of turmeric and oil is an essential part of the Hindu marriage festival, as well as in some religious ceremonies.” Balfour writes: “the root (rhizome of turmeric) enters into many of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus. The entire or the corners of every new article of dress, whether of man or woman, are stained before wearing it with paste made up of the turmeric root and water. Mixed with lime it forms the liquid used in ‘arati’ ceremony for warding of the evil eye. Women use it largely as a cosmetic and some smear all the body with it as a detergent. Clothes dyed with it are deemed a protection against fever. The Hindus of the sect, Vaisnavaites prepare their ‘tiruchurnam’ from turmeric in conjunction with lime-juice, with which they make the peculiar mark on their foreheads”. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste and rose water was the most important skin ointment used by upper class ladies for a blemish less and silky skin.
In fact turmeric dominated the life of Hindus in those days, so much that a separate icon of god Ganesha known as Haridra Ganesha (Turmeric Ganesha) came into existence, reports Rao (1916) in his classical book, Elements of Hindu Iconography. Rao also mentions the use of another spice, pomegranate, along with lotus, water pot and Kalpakalatha as the ‘weapons’ in the Lakhmi -Ganpati idols.
The above examples are enough to understand that in the ancient and medieval and even in modern India spices had played and are still playing significant roles in the socio-cultural and religious lives of the Indian people.
The socio-cultural connections of spices with the Indian life are best exemplified by the folklores of the country. These folklores are remains of an ancient mythology that has survived the test of time so far. The folklores depict the legends, customs, beliefs, and traditions of the rural and tribal people of India. Many studies have gone into the cultural traditions of folklores (such as Hem Barua’s Folk songs of India). It was actually the British people who initially started documenting the folklore traditions existed in various parts of India. As in the folk songs of the rest of the world, love constitutes the principal theme of folk songs in India too. Plants and flowers were often used as symbols and similes for comparison to describe beauty and love. Occasionally we find the use of spices in such descriptions in folk songs. A folk song from Bihar describes the fair colour and fragrance perceptible in a healthy woman (translation):
Your legs are strong as pillars
And shine like yellow turmeric
Your hair smells of ajowan
The incense of your cloves
Fills the world….
Then again:
Your eyebrows are like sesame
Like the stripped seed the parting of your hair.
In folk songs turmeric and saffron were the most favoured spices. In a Konkini cradlesong a woman compares the colour of her child with that of turmeric:
Shall I call my child fair complexioned
Shall I call him turmeric black?
Spices are repeatedly mentioned in the folk songs of Kerala such as the Manjappattukal (yellow songs) and Vadakkan pattukal (northern songs). Cherusseri Namboothiri composed his masterpiece Krishnagatha almost towards the end of the middle ages where in he uses many references on spices. In one such passage, the poet describes the young Krishna of the Git-Govind legend (translation):
“ Dark as a dark rain cloud
His hair beautifully knotted
A flute in his hand
An anklet on his feet
And a thread across his chest
His clothes, the color of yellow turmeric”.
Many folksongs mention of young wives beautifying themselves by the application of turmeric. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste was infact the most important skin ointment and beauty aid for achieving a blemishless, glowing skin used by the ladies of the upper class Hindus
In Devendra Satyarthi’s collection of north Indian folk songs, a song from Kashmir alludes the saffron flowers in Pampore and the painful separation of the lass and her lover:
Do you remember that song of saffron?
My lover is on the way to Pampore
Where the flowers are in close embrace
But we are far removed from each other
Listen to my cry, listen to my cry…..
In a Maithili song the composer makes turmeric speak at the time of the birth of a son:
Says turmeric:
I shall colour,
I shall dye you, oh my child,
I shall dye Devaki’s head cloth
I shall give it my color….
The birth of a male child is celebrated with lot of festivities, and lot of traditions is attached to such festivities. In Maithili folk songs there are many examples of such festivities. One such traditional festivity follows like this: the new mother, on the sixth day after child birth is escorted to a courtyard for a ceremonial bath and she dresses in new cloth, put turmeric powder and kumkum on her forehead… and the dancers – the ladies in the nearby houses dance and sing:
The clever husband reaches the street
The street emits the smell of ajowain
The returning husband asks his wife
Who had delivered a male child?
Why do I smell of ajowain in the street?
Teasingly she replies
Because my mother in law has pain in the stomach
I hav’nt yet given birth to a child.
The clever husband reaches the courtyard
He smells of dry ginger
Have you delivered my darling, he asks?
Teasingly she replies
My sister –in-law has headache
Hence you smell ginger
My lord, I have not yet delivered…
………………………………….
The song concludes:
The clever husband reaches his wife’s room
I lost, you won my lord
The wife exclaims
Remember your promise
I have given birth to a male child.
The Punjabi folksongs also have sprinkling of spices. A well known one:
The baskets are full of pomegranates
Hearing our woes
Even the stones from the rocks weep
A young woman separated from her lover laments:
In the market are sold mustard leaves
You said you would come in fifteen days
But ages have passed since then
May you live long and endear none else….
………………………………………
Chilies are on sale in the market
I shall purchase a ticket
I shall go to Pindi
May you live long
The night is dark
I shall light an oil lamp….
Guru Golakh Nath was a renowned saint. He was once camping in a king’s garden and the door keeper describes the beauty of the Guru to the Queen like this:
A Sadhu has camped in the palace gardens
He is radiant like the sun
As if a thousand flowers were in bloom
Of Sweet marjoram mustard and jasmines.
Spices have also played a role in many superstitions and ritualistic beliefs that existed in many parts of India (as well as in other countries). In India a ritual is practiced even now on the Diwali day. After the men and children have gone to bed, the women beat and drive out “alakshmi” or “Moodevi”, who is the goddess of misfortune. The driving out ceremony is performed with small sticks and breaking red chilies and cutting sour lime.
In rural India in earlier times there was a test employed by midwives to confirm whether a woman is pregnant or not. The midwives insert a clove of garlic into the woman’s vagina or burn incense, myrrah and other aromatic substances near the entrance of the the sexual organs so that fumes envelope the woman’s lower part. If the woman failed to taste or smell the garlic or the aromatic vapours, she was pregnant. The ancient Indian books of love have also given many instances on the use of spices.
Spices also played important roles in the religions beliefs and practices of India. In Vishnupurana, we get the story of the origin of Tulsi, the plant held as most sacred to Lord Krishna. In fact, even now in north India, the cast Hindus on the eleventh day of Karthika lunar month (Oct – Nov) celebrate the Tulsi marriage with Vishnu; and this ceremony marks the opening of the annual marriage season among the high cast Hindus. It is also interesting to note that in northern India Tulsi is not used for worshipping Lord Ganesh (perhaps indicating the division of the Shaiva-Vaishnava cult.). Instead spices like turmeric; kumkum, yellow mustard, nutmeg and cloves are used. The Abhisheka ceremony requires the use of 18 articles, turmeric being one (Mahindran, 1982).
In the worship of Lord Shiva the high cast Hindus use cloves, cardomom and turmeric; for the worship of Saraswathi (goddess of learning) cloves, nutmeg, turmeric and cinnamon are required; for Kali (the goddess of destruction of evil) cloves and cardamom are needed. For propitiating planets such as Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu, Hindu scriptures prescribe black sesame seeds and yellow mustard seeds, and for Jupiter turmeric alone is enough (Vrat Purana).
In Rajasthan, in the Balaji temple (situated on the road from Udaipur to Nathdwara) only saffron is offered to the diety. The serpent worshippers of Kerala and other southern states use turmeric powder as the chief offering, the best example being the naga temple of Mannarsala, a small hamlet near the town Harippad, in the Aleppey district of Kerala. In the famous temple of Kodungallor, black pepper is among the offerings given to the goddess Kali. In those days it was also a practice to anoint the bodies of the expectant mother with turmeric mixed with oil. Turmeric was also associated intimately with wedding ceremonies. Dutt in his Materia Medica of Hindus says: “The rubbing of turmeric and oil is an essential part of the Hindu marriage festival, as well as in some religious ceremonies.” Balfour writes: “the root (rhizome of turmeric) enters into many of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus. The entire or the corners of every new article of dress, whether of man or woman, are stained before wearing it with paste made up of the turmeric root and water. Mixed with lime it forms the liquid used in ‘arati’ ceremony for warding of the evil eye. Women use it largely as a cosmetic and some smear all the body with it as a detergent. Clothes dyed with it are deemed a protection against fever. The Hindus of the sect, Vaisnavaites prepare their ‘tiruchurnam’ from turmeric in conjunction with lime-juice, with which they make the peculiar mark on their foreheads”. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste and rose water was the most important skin ointment used by upper class ladies for a blemish less and silky skin.
In fact turmeric dominated the life of Hindus in those days, so much that a separate icon of god Ganesha known as Haridra Ganesha (Turmeric Ganesha) came into existence, reports Rao (1916) in his classical book, Elements of Hindu Iconography. Rao also mentions the use of another spice, pomegranate, along with lotus, water pot and Kalpakalatha as the ‘weapons’ in the Lakhmi -Ganpati idols.
The above examples are enough to understand that in the ancient and medieval and even in modern India spices had played and are still playing significant roles in the socio-cultural and religious lives of the Indian people.
Monday, June 8, 2009
SPICES IN THE SOCIO-RELIGIOUS LIFE OF INDIA
The socio-cultural connections of spices with the Indian life are best exemplified by the folklores of the country. These folklores are remains of an ancient mythology that has survived the test of time so far. The folklores depict the legends, customs, beliefs, and traditions of the rural and tribal people of India. Many studies have gone into the cultural traditions of folklores (such as Hem Barua’s Folk songs of India). It was actually the British people who initially started documenting the folklore traditions existed in various parts of India. As in the folk songs of the rest of the world, love constitutes the principal theme of folk songs in India too. Plants and flowers were often used as symbols and similes for comparison to describe beauty and love. Occasionally we find the use of spices in such descriptions in folk songs. A folk song from Bihar describes the fair colour and fragrance perceptible in a healthy woman (translation):
Your legs are strong as pillars
And shine like yellow turmeric
Your hair smells of ajowan
The incense of your cloves
Fills the world….
Then again:
Your eyebrows are like sesame
Like the stripped seed the parting of your hair.
In folk songs turmeric and saffron were the most favoured spices. In a Konkini cradlesong a woman compares the colour of her child with that of turmeric:
Shall I call my child fair complexioned
Shall I call him turmeric black?
Spices are repeatedly mentioned in the folk songs of Kerala such as the Manjappattukal (yellow songs) and Vadakkan pattukal (northern songs). Cherusseri Namboothiri composed his masterpiece Krishnagatha almost towards the end of the middle ages where in he uses many references on spices. In one such passage, the poet describes the young Krishna of the Git-Govind legend (translation):
“ Dark as a dark rain cloud
His hair beautifully knotted
A flute in his hand
An anklet on his feet
And a thread across his chest
His clothes, the color of yellow turmeric”.
Many folksongs mention of young wives beautifying themselves by the application of turmeric. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste was infact the most important skin ointment and beauty aid for achieving a blemishless, glowing skin used by the ladies of the upper class Hindus
In Devendra Satyarthi’s collection of north Indian folk songs, a song from Kashmir alludes the saffron flowers in Pampore and the painful separation of the lass and her lover:
Do you remember that song of saffron?
My lover is on the way to Pampore
Where the flowers are in close embrace
But we are far removed from each other
Listen to my cry, listen to my cry…..
In a Maithili song the composer makes turmeric speak at the time of the birth of a son:
Says turmeric:
I shall colour,
I shall dye you, oh my child,
I shall dye Devaki’s head cloth
I shall give it my color….
The birth of a male child is celebrated with lot of festivities, and lot of traditions is attached to such festivities. In Maithili folk songs there are many examples of such festivities. One such traditional festivity follows like this: the new mother, on the sixth day after child birth is escorted to a courtyard for a ceremonial bath and she dresses in new cloth, put turmeric powder and kumkum on her forehead… and the dancers – the ladies in the nearby houses dance and sing:
The clever husband reaches the street
The street emits the smell of ajowain
The returning husband asks his wife
Who had delivered a male child?
Why do I smell of ajowain in the street?
Teasingly she replies
Because my mother in law has pain in the stomach
I hav’nt yet given birth to a child.
The clever husband reaches the courtyard
He smells of dry ginger
Have you delivered my darling, he asks?
Teasingly she replies
My sister –in-law has headache
Hence you smell ginger
My lord, I have not yet delivered…
………………………………….
The song concludes:
The clever husband reaches his wife’s room
I lost, you won my lord
The wife exclaims
Remember your promise
I have given birth to a male child.
The Punjabi folksongs also have sprinkling of spices. A well known one:
The baskets are full of pomegranates
Hearing our woes
Even the stones from the rocks weep
A young woman separated from her lover laments:
In the market are sold mustard leaves
You said you would come in fifteen days
But ages have passed since then
May you live long and endear none else….
………………………………………
Chilies are on sale in the market
I shall purchase a ticket
I shall go to Pindi
May you live long
The night is dark
I shall light an oil lamp….
Guru Golakh Nath was a renowned saint. He was once camping in a king’s garden and the door keeper describes the beauty of the Guru to the Queen like this:
A Sadhu has camped in the palace gardens
He is radiant like the sun
As if a thousand flowers were in bloom
Of Sweet marjoram mustard and jasmines.
Spices have also played a role in many superstitions and ritualistic beliefs that existed in many parts of India (as well as in other countries). In India a ritual is practiced even now on the Diwali day. After the men and children have gone to bed, the women beat and drive out “alakshmi” or “Moodevi”, who is the goddess of misfortune. The driving out ceremony is performed with small sticks and breaking red chilies and cutting sour lime.
In rural India in earlier times there was a test employed by midwives to confirm whether a woman is pregnant or not. The midwives insert a clove of garlic into the woman’s vagina or burn incense, myrrah and other aromatic substances near the entrance of the the sexual organs so that fumes envelope the woman’s lower part. If the woman failed to taste or smell the garlic or the aromatic vapours, she was pregnant. The ancient Indian books of love have also given many instances on the use of spices.
Spices also played important roles in the religions beliefs and practices of India. In Vishnupurana, we get the story of the origin of Tulsi, the plant held as most sacred to Lord Krishna. In fact, even now in north India, the cast Hindus on the eleventh day of Karthika lunar month (Oct – Nov) celebrate the Tulsi marriage with Vishnu; and this ceremony marks the opening of the annual marriage season among the high cast Hindus. It is also interesting to note that in northern India Tulsi is not used for worshipping Lord Ganesh (perhaps indicating the division of the Shaiva-Vaishnava cult.). Instead spices like turmeric; kumkum, yellow mustard, nutmeg and cloves are used. The Abhisheka ceremony requires the use of 18 articles, turmeric being one (Mahindran, 1982).
In the worship of Lord Shiva the high cast Hindus use cloves, cardomom and turmeric; for the worship of Saraswathi (goddess of learning) cloves, nutmeg, turmeric and cinnamon are required; for Kali (the goddess of destruction of evil) cloves and cardamom are needed. For propitiating planets such as Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu, Hindu scriptures prescribe black sesame seeds and yellow mustard seeds, and for Jupiter turmeric alone is enough (Vrat Purana).
In Rajasthan, in the Balaji temple (situated on the road from Udaipur to Nathdwara) only saffron is offered to the diety. The serpent worshippers of Kerala and other southern states use turmeric powder as the chief offering, the best example being the naga temple of Mannarsala, a small hamlet near the town Harippad, in the Aleppey district of Kerala. In the famous temple of Kodungallor, black pepper is among the offerings given to the goddess Kali. In those days it was also a practice to anoint the bodies of the expectant mother with turmeric mixed with oil. Turmeric was also associated intimately with wedding ceremonies. Dutt in his Materia Medica of Hindus says: “The rubbing of turmeric and oil is an essential part of the Hindu marriage festival, as well as in some religious ceremonies.” Balfour writes: “the root (rhizome of turmeric) enters into many of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus. The entire or the corners of every new article of dress, whether of man or woman, are stained before wearing it with paste made up of the turmeric root and water. Mixed with lime it forms the liquid used in ‘arati’ ceremony for warding of the evil eye. Women use it largely as a cosmetic and some smear all the body with it as a detergent. Clothes dyed with it are deemed a protection against fever. The Hindus of the sect, Vaisnavaites prepare their ‘tiruchurnam’ from turmeric in conjunction with lime-juice, with which they make the peculiar mark on their foreheads”. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste and rose water was the most important skin ointment used by upper class ladies for a blemish less and silky skin.
In fact turmeric dominated the life of Hindus in those days, so much that a separate icon of god Ganesha known as Haridra Ganesha (Turmeric Ganesha) came into existence, reports Rao (1916) in his classical book, Elements of Hindu Iconography. Rao also mentions the use of another spice, pomegranate, along with lotus, water pot and Kalpakalatha as the ‘weapons’ in the Lakhmi -Ganpati idols.
The above examples are enough to understand that in the ancient and medieval and even in modern India spices had played and are still playing significant roles in the socio-cultural and religious lives of the Indian people.
Next issue: Spices in traditional medicine.
Your legs are strong as pillars
And shine like yellow turmeric
Your hair smells of ajowan
The incense of your cloves
Fills the world….
Then again:
Your eyebrows are like sesame
Like the stripped seed the parting of your hair.
In folk songs turmeric and saffron were the most favoured spices. In a Konkini cradlesong a woman compares the colour of her child with that of turmeric:
Shall I call my child fair complexioned
Shall I call him turmeric black?
Spices are repeatedly mentioned in the folk songs of Kerala such as the Manjappattukal (yellow songs) and Vadakkan pattukal (northern songs). Cherusseri Namboothiri composed his masterpiece Krishnagatha almost towards the end of the middle ages where in he uses many references on spices. In one such passage, the poet describes the young Krishna of the Git-Govind legend (translation):
“ Dark as a dark rain cloud
His hair beautifully knotted
A flute in his hand
An anklet on his feet
And a thread across his chest
His clothes, the color of yellow turmeric”.
Many folksongs mention of young wives beautifying themselves by the application of turmeric. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste was infact the most important skin ointment and beauty aid for achieving a blemishless, glowing skin used by the ladies of the upper class Hindus
In Devendra Satyarthi’s collection of north Indian folk songs, a song from Kashmir alludes the saffron flowers in Pampore and the painful separation of the lass and her lover:
Do you remember that song of saffron?
My lover is on the way to Pampore
Where the flowers are in close embrace
But we are far removed from each other
Listen to my cry, listen to my cry…..
In a Maithili song the composer makes turmeric speak at the time of the birth of a son:
Says turmeric:
I shall colour,
I shall dye you, oh my child,
I shall dye Devaki’s head cloth
I shall give it my color….
The birth of a male child is celebrated with lot of festivities, and lot of traditions is attached to such festivities. In Maithili folk songs there are many examples of such festivities. One such traditional festivity follows like this: the new mother, on the sixth day after child birth is escorted to a courtyard for a ceremonial bath and she dresses in new cloth, put turmeric powder and kumkum on her forehead… and the dancers – the ladies in the nearby houses dance and sing:
The clever husband reaches the street
The street emits the smell of ajowain
The returning husband asks his wife
Who had delivered a male child?
Why do I smell of ajowain in the street?
Teasingly she replies
Because my mother in law has pain in the stomach
I hav’nt yet given birth to a child.
The clever husband reaches the courtyard
He smells of dry ginger
Have you delivered my darling, he asks?
Teasingly she replies
My sister –in-law has headache
Hence you smell ginger
My lord, I have not yet delivered…
………………………………….
The song concludes:
The clever husband reaches his wife’s room
I lost, you won my lord
The wife exclaims
Remember your promise
I have given birth to a male child.
The Punjabi folksongs also have sprinkling of spices. A well known one:
The baskets are full of pomegranates
Hearing our woes
Even the stones from the rocks weep
A young woman separated from her lover laments:
In the market are sold mustard leaves
You said you would come in fifteen days
But ages have passed since then
May you live long and endear none else….
………………………………………
Chilies are on sale in the market
I shall purchase a ticket
I shall go to Pindi
May you live long
The night is dark
I shall light an oil lamp….
Guru Golakh Nath was a renowned saint. He was once camping in a king’s garden and the door keeper describes the beauty of the Guru to the Queen like this:
A Sadhu has camped in the palace gardens
He is radiant like the sun
As if a thousand flowers were in bloom
Of Sweet marjoram mustard and jasmines.
Spices have also played a role in many superstitions and ritualistic beliefs that existed in many parts of India (as well as in other countries). In India a ritual is practiced even now on the Diwali day. After the men and children have gone to bed, the women beat and drive out “alakshmi” or “Moodevi”, who is the goddess of misfortune. The driving out ceremony is performed with small sticks and breaking red chilies and cutting sour lime.
In rural India in earlier times there was a test employed by midwives to confirm whether a woman is pregnant or not. The midwives insert a clove of garlic into the woman’s vagina or burn incense, myrrah and other aromatic substances near the entrance of the the sexual organs so that fumes envelope the woman’s lower part. If the woman failed to taste or smell the garlic or the aromatic vapours, she was pregnant. The ancient Indian books of love have also given many instances on the use of spices.
Spices also played important roles in the religions beliefs and practices of India. In Vishnupurana, we get the story of the origin of Tulsi, the plant held as most sacred to Lord Krishna. In fact, even now in north India, the cast Hindus on the eleventh day of Karthika lunar month (Oct – Nov) celebrate the Tulsi marriage with Vishnu; and this ceremony marks the opening of the annual marriage season among the high cast Hindus. It is also interesting to note that in northern India Tulsi is not used for worshipping Lord Ganesh (perhaps indicating the division of the Shaiva-Vaishnava cult.). Instead spices like turmeric; kumkum, yellow mustard, nutmeg and cloves are used. The Abhisheka ceremony requires the use of 18 articles, turmeric being one (Mahindran, 1982).
In the worship of Lord Shiva the high cast Hindus use cloves, cardomom and turmeric; for the worship of Saraswathi (goddess of learning) cloves, nutmeg, turmeric and cinnamon are required; for Kali (the goddess of destruction of evil) cloves and cardamom are needed. For propitiating planets such as Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu, Hindu scriptures prescribe black sesame seeds and yellow mustard seeds, and for Jupiter turmeric alone is enough (Vrat Purana).
In Rajasthan, in the Balaji temple (situated on the road from Udaipur to Nathdwara) only saffron is offered to the diety. The serpent worshippers of Kerala and other southern states use turmeric powder as the chief offering, the best example being the naga temple of Mannarsala, a small hamlet near the town Harippad, in the Aleppey district of Kerala. In the famous temple of Kodungallor, black pepper is among the offerings given to the goddess Kali. In those days it was also a practice to anoint the bodies of the expectant mother with turmeric mixed with oil. Turmeric was also associated intimately with wedding ceremonies. Dutt in his Materia Medica of Hindus says: “The rubbing of turmeric and oil is an essential part of the Hindu marriage festival, as well as in some religious ceremonies.” Balfour writes: “the root (rhizome of turmeric) enters into many of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus. The entire or the corners of every new article of dress, whether of man or woman, are stained before wearing it with paste made up of the turmeric root and water. Mixed with lime it forms the liquid used in ‘arati’ ceremony for warding of the evil eye. Women use it largely as a cosmetic and some smear all the body with it as a detergent. Clothes dyed with it are deemed a protection against fever. The Hindus of the sect, Vaisnavaites prepare their ‘tiruchurnam’ from turmeric in conjunction with lime-juice, with which they make the peculiar mark on their foreheads”. Fresh turmeric paste mixed with sandal paste and rose water was the most important skin ointment used by upper class ladies for a blemish less and silky skin.
In fact turmeric dominated the life of Hindus in those days, so much that a separate icon of god Ganesha known as Haridra Ganesha (Turmeric Ganesha) came into existence, reports Rao (1916) in his classical book, Elements of Hindu Iconography. Rao also mentions the use of another spice, pomegranate, along with lotus, water pot and Kalpakalatha as the ‘weapons’ in the Lakhmi -Ganpati idols.
The above examples are enough to understand that in the ancient and medieval and even in modern India spices had played and are still playing significant roles in the socio-cultural and religious lives of the Indian people.
Next issue: Spices in traditional medicine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
