1 Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605] Anku Bharadwaj Abstract My paper seeks to understand the interaction between Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices in the reign of Akbar (1556-1605), and their relations with the consolidation of the empire in his reign. It explores the early Mughal food practices, and in the process of doing so, brings out contrasts and resemblances with high caste Brahmanical dietary practices and perceptions of food. In examining the Brahmanical gastronomy, with a view to draw comparisons with the Mughals, I focus on the stringent dietary rules and etiquette of the Indics where caste distinctions were evident, the concept of self-restraint and prohibition through the practice of fasts and food charity, the notion of internal and external food pollution and purity – all of these which form vital components of the Brahmanical religion and culture in Hindustan. My effort here is to look at Akbar’s acquaintance with the Hindustani culture and habits, and see how aspects of this culture, in particular gastronomy and dietary rules, were selectively appropriated by the Mughal state to legitimize its rule, and deepen its control over the subjects in the Mughal Empire. Further, the paper reveals 1 Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] that the selective appropriation of the Brahmanical dietary norms by the ruler was a source of much discontent among his Muslim conservative detractors, who often accused him of abandoning Islam and of performing heretical practices. Key Words: Food, taboo, fast, Indics, Hindustan, Akbar, caste, Brahamanical, charity, Mughals. ***** Food has a crucial socio-political space in virtually every human social order and culture. At the risk of sounding banal, let me emphasize that food in any culture is not just about feeding oneself, but involves complex patterns of assimilation, interaction and resistance. In the Mughal period, we observe that the food practices were not uniform and static, but dynamic and ever-changing. By the time of Akbar, the third Mughal ruler, the casualness towards eating etiquettes and dining practices present during Babur’s reign had under gone a huge transformation, and prefigured by the development of a well-defined and elaborate code of conduct. The regulations that defined culinary practices and patterns of food consumption were now systematically integrated with imperial sovereignty. Rituals and Practices of natives of Hindustan in early Mughal period. The dietary habits of the people of Hindustan were quite different and complex and were unfamiliar to the Mughals. The Indics followed stringent dietary Anku Bharadwaj rules and etiquettes, and considered it desirable, and for the high caste Brahmans, a ritual necessity, to abstain from alcohol and meat. It is often assumed that the vegetarian diet that is associated with the Brahmans was related to their faith in nonviolence and repugnance to taking lives; evidence suggests that it was probably tied to notions of ritual purity and pollution. Meat-eating groups were ritually ranked lower and beef eaters the lowest.1 Jack Goody points out that self-restraint and prohibition are widely recognized as ways of attaining refinement in a hierarchical society, such as India.2 The idea is clearly expressed in a verse in the Manusmriti: ‘there is no harm in eating meat or drinking intoxicating liquors as it is the natural craving of man, but abstaining from them is meritorious.’3 The Indian religions Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism developed this ethical injunction into a way of life, and total abstinence from meat consumption was considered meritorious. Jack Goody states that such a philosophy of rejection could develop only within the context of hierarchical societies with its stratified cuisine. In India, rejection of certain food and temporary rejection of all was one of the paths to holiness and grace.4 Notions of ritual purity and pollution were a vital component of the Brahmanical religion and culture in Hindustan. Since food, in particular meat, was a vital carrier of pollution, regulation of dietary practices was tied to the rituals of faith and the articulation of religiosity. Food rituals were widely present in Hindustan way Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] back in the ancient period, and served to explain the variations in life, and wrath of gods and the supernatural powers. Abul Fazl mentions that the Hindus believed in an afterlife and in the concept of facing the consequences of previous birth in the present life, ‘Karma Vipaka.’5 Extraordinary tales centring on food rituals are cited in the Mughal chronicles; most of these rituals were followed by the people that these would ensure their ritual purity, and serve to maintain social hierarchies. Mary Douglas rightly points out that mostly people believed that their rites had an obvious efficacy, and would suspend the natural course of events.6 Comparison of the food practises of the Mughals and the Indics During Akbar’s period, we get a rich and elaborate description about the day to day food habits of a regular Brahman family. Joaness De Laet mentions how a whole family ate together from one dish.7 Arjun Appadurai argues, for Hindus, food sharing is a principal social marker, both within the family and in the larger social sphere. He also states that accepting food prepared by another person is perceived as a homogenizing act, as well as a form of personal solidarity.8 When discussing feasting occasions, De Laet observed that they didn’t eat from the same dish, and maintained some distance from each other. Brahmanical gastronomical practices restricted communal eating to the family, whereas among the Mughals, these occasions were usually marked by the presence of a large number of friends and Anku Bharadwaj political allies.9 The concept of affinity to brethren was a composite aspect of the Mughal nomadic life while the sedentary life of Indics gave importance to kinship. Social distance and hierarchies were common to both the Brahmancial world view and the Mughal courtly cultural tradition; the social and political hierarchies were reproduced in Mughal imperial culinary practices. According to De Laet, visitors were made to sit in order of superiority on either side of the host. They did not use napkins, and ate with their fingers: it was considered bad manners to use the left hand or to lick the fingers. The use of the left hand was for handling anything dirty because the right hand was used for eating, and people realized the risk of contamination of food that might result if this distinction was not observed. Dietary taboos were instrumental in maintaining religious identities in Hindustan. Like any other religion, Hinduism had its own list of acceptable food items and practices. Abul Fazl mentions how stringently a Brahman family followed the ceremonies and rituals of cooking and eating. They emphasised on the significance of sacred gastronomical spaces and disciplined body. Each time before cooking, the kitchen floor, wall and the cooking utensils was plastered with cow dung and mud to make the space pure, and even if a piece of paper or a dirty rag fell on the plastered space, the food was considered to be spoilt. Edward Harper states that for Brahmans, the most striking and frequently encountered expression of Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] pollution is in the use of cow-dung as a cleansing agent.10 What is unclean for some becomes clean for others and vice versa. The person cooking should be clean as well, and should take a ritually purifying bath before cooking. The notion was that external and internal pollution that results from contact with the polluting substances need to be removed by such acts as bathing.11 Harper states that the notion was that simple types of pollution were removed by water; greater degrees of pollution were removed by cow-dung and water.12 The role of cooking was defined and had to be done by either the mistress of the family or a Brahman either a cook or somebody related to the master of the house. A cook would not taste the food she is preparing, as, by touching her finger to her lips, she would lose the condition of purity required for protecting food from pollution. Since cooking involves contact, which is a source of pollution, depending on their position in the hierarchy, higher caste individuals were prohibited from eating food prepared by the lower castes. Members of higher castes may give food to people of a lower caste without suffering a loss of status, but they may not receive food from them.13 Often they guarded against coming in contact with people whose pollution would lower their moral status.14 Leftover food, especially food that has been touched [jutha] was considered polluting. However, the leftovers [jutha] by God remained pure for humans. The food offerings made to god, became sanctified and was called ‘Prasad’ [i.e., God's Mercy], which was then partaken by the devotee. The higher the original eater, the Anku Bharadwaj less polluting the leftovers, and the wider the range of possible consumers.15 The eating ritual was almost like a practice of worship where we see caste distinctions to be quite evident. The notion of a disciplined body among the Mughals was on similar lines. As mentioned earlier, social food transfer, as most clearly indicated by the food eating etiquettes followed by natives of Hindustan and the Mughals within their own differentiated culture, had much to do with both creating closeness and harmony and with distinction from others. Dining etiquettes and regulation in the mode of eating were important to Akbar. The court chronicles created a profusely meticulous, virtuous and masculine image for Akbar which included careful dietary habits, including preferred vegetarianism and abstinence from wine showing his moderation and self-control. The individuality of his distinguished presence itself derived legitimacy and stability to the kingdom. Akbar believed that knowledge and care for proper consumption of food was necessary, as strength of body, capability of external and internal blessings and acquisition of worldly and religious affairs depended on it apart from ‘distinguishing man from beast.’16 According to Harbans Mukhia, it was mostly for maintaining the image of virile masculinity and to follow modes of orderly elite behaviour.17 Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] Moreover, dietary practises such as fasts and charity were also undertaken by the Mughals. Many references to Ramzan fast have been made in various Mughal chronicle. Frugality and fast were uplifting properties in many or most cultures and religions. The supposed notion was that it brought people closer to spirituality and their creator. R.S. Khare states that during fasts, the food becomes an offering as well as a means of self-denial, a sacrifice in both senses.18 He notes that the main characteristics of fasts are: austerity, self-discipline and devotion to seek aims ranging from ‘self-realization’ to the possession of worldly riches and pleasures.19 Interestingly, fasts had other dimensions too. Sometimes partaken to eat after completion of a certain task, often to mourn or repent for breaking certain dietary taboo, or to avoid excess. Mary Douglas states that one of the peculiarities of religion is the fear of failing to practice the pollution -avoidances attached to one’s religion.20 Vincent A. Smith narrates how to repent for his licentious relations with women; Akbar pursued fasting for several days. Daniello Bartoli mentions that the abstinence was not extended to include liquor and hence the merit of fasting was lost in the demerit of inebriation. 21 Adaptation to Indic gastronomy by the early Mughals When the Mughal royals moved to Hindustan, which had different cultural norms, it was inevitable for them to adapt to their new environment. While it had been a period of constant military engagements, it was no less challenging for Babur Anku Bharadwaj and his men to adapt to the social and cultural challenges of their new environment. The lack of available native ingredients forced them to familiarize to the foods of the new culture. Moreover, if Babur had to establish an empire in India, he had to adapt to a land that was different socially, culturally and geographically to his homeland. However, his grandson, Akbar understood the need for legitimizing his rule, but realized that it was going to be a monumental task. He was born in India and was exposed to Indian culture and religion because of his upbringing and his marriages with the Rajput princesses. A large part of Akbar's administrative efforts were related to winning over the Hindu society at a large. As Romila Thapar points out, Akbar ‘won the allegiance of the Rajputs, the most belligerent Hindus, by a shrewd blend of tolerance, generosity and force.’22 Apart from the tolerant policies, Akbar paid attention to the ritual and culinary practices of the subjects and Hindu allies, as well. He not only implemented certain dietary rules to conciliate his subjects, but under their influence, embraced some of these practices himself. John F. Richards states that Akbar adopted the Hindu custom of giving alms to the poor by having himself weighed against gold, silver, grains and other commodities.23 Moreover, consumption of meat became restrictive and sometimes forbidden. For instance, he ordered that every year on the anniversary of the month of his accession, nobody would be allowed to consume meat.24 In 1583, he made Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] efforts to ban cow slaughter, and even though he was not successful, the efforts indicate a noticeable shift in the Mughal imperial dietary practises.25 He himself abstained from eating meat and hunting on Fridays and Sundays. To justify Akbar’s stance, Abul Fazl states that Akbar, from the beginning, found animal food tasteless and for protecting animals, refrained from animal food to protect animals. He states that Akbar would have totally abstained from meat and implemented the same for others, ‘had it not for the thought of the difficulty of sustenance.’26 Abul Fazl described how Akbar experienced his great moment of spiritual enlightenment while he was hunting. In appreciation for his spiritual enlightenment, he ordered to stop the hunt and the thousands of animals caught up by the beaters were set free. Thereafter, Akbar began to restrain himself from hunting and restricted himself to a vegetarian diet on certain days.27 Observing this incident, Rosalind O’Hanlon highlighted elements of appeal to Brahmanic Hindu prohibitions on the taking of life.28 It won’t be wrong to say that Akbar’s policy of abstinence and charity was politically motivated. In Mughal India, charity, in particular, food charity was crucially tied to imperial sovereignty and was crucially linked to the notion of ‘justice’, a central trope that defined kingship in the Indo-Muslim dispensation.29 These policies provided to the state, legitimacy and acceptance among the people. Anku Bharadwaj Akbar was criticized for his policies of appeasement. Bartoli makes a mention of Akbar’s fasting strictly on Friday, and ascribed it to his contempt for Islam.30 Badauni mocked Akbar’s effort to ban cow slaughter by saying that he saw cow dung as pure and its meat impure.31 The reason given by Akbar for the ban was that the doctors had told Akbar that beef was the source of all sorts of diseases, and was very indigestible. Mary Douglas states that the resemblance between some of the symbolic rites and the practice of hygiene is sometimes uncannily close and religion based practises were often justified by medical explanations.32 She states that it is not enough to explain religious orientations or rites simply on medical grants. According to Badauni, the reason of this was that, from the very beginning, Akbar had been in the company of Hindu ascetics and jogis, and had thus learnt to look upon a cow as something holy. Badauni believed that Akbar was subject to the influence of the numerous Hindu princesses of the Harem, who had gained so great an ascendancy over him, as to make him forswear beef, garlic, onions33 and had turned his mind against ‘friendship of people with beards.’34 He critiqued Rajah Deb Chand for saying that ‘Allah after all had great respect for cows implying that the Quran agrees with the Vedas in reverence of the cows, else the cow would not have been mentions in the first chapter of the Quran.’35 Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] Badauni states that Akbar in order to propagate Hindu religion and beliefs forbade the prayers of the Islam, the fast and even the pilgrimage. He states that Akbar initially had the early history of the Islam read out to him, but later started to think less of the Sahabah [companions of the Prophet]. Soon after, the Islamic practises of observance of the five prayers, the fasts, and the belief in everything connected with the Prophet, were put down as taqlidi, or religious blindness. Akbar initiated his own new faith where man’s reason was acknowledged as the basis of all religion.36 However, according to Smith, the prohibition of animal food by Akbar was under the influence of Jains.36 Seemingly, the whole gist of the regulations was to further the adoption of Hindu, Jain and Parsee practices. While O’Hanlon has highlighted that Akbar’s institution of discipleship of the new faith ‘Din i Illahi’ itself drew broadly on akhlaqi norms, ishraqi illuminationist thinking, and the relationship between Sufi pir and disciple and Brahmanic Hindu dietary codes. 37 The disciples were made to observe particular regulations: a special mode of greeting, alms-giving, periodic abstention from meat and avoidance of those involved in its slaughter. Anku Bharadwaj Conclusion In conclusion, I would like to say that the interaction between gastronomic elements of the Indics and the Mughals displayed that unlike the early Mughals, their food habits were much more rigid, stringent and constructed around caste and religion, which of course included taboos and rituals. Seemingly, communal eating was restricted to the family and unlike the Mughals; mealtime was not marked with the presence of friends. However, the norms of hierarchy were similar in both the Indic gastronomy and early Mughal dining practices. The interaction of the Turko-Mongol food practices with indigenous gastronomy was related to the consolidation of the Mughal Empire. Both Babur and Humayun, rulers before Akbar, did not get enough time to engage with the dietary practices of their subjects in India. However, Akbar’s birth and upbringing in Hindustan and his marriages in the Rajput clan allowed him to come closer to the Hindustani culture and habits. His policy of gastrodiplomacy to successfully appropriate food rituals and dietary practices of the higher caste groups in India helped him to legitimize Mughal imperial sovereignty. His assimilation of the Brahmanical dietary norms was indeed a source of much displeasure among his Muslim conventional critics, who often blamed him for abandoning Islam and for performing heretical practices. Mughal gastronomy and Brahmanical dietary practices: Food and identity at the court of Akbar. [1556-1605 c.] 1 H. N. C. Stevenson. ‘Status Evaluation in the Hindu Caste System,’ The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 84, 1954, 45–65. 2 Jack Goody. Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A Study in Comparative Sociology. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1982, 117. 3 Quoted in Ibid., 117. (Manusmriti chapter 5- verses: 51-60) 4 Ibid., 129. 5 Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari, III, translated by H. Blochmann and Colonel H. S. Jarrett. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1873 – 1907, 225. 6 Mary Douglas. ‘Taboo.’ In Man, Myth and Magic, edited by Richard Cavendish, Vol 20, London, 1979, 2767–71. For instance, Abul Fazl narrates how in the village of Zewan in Kashmir and in Devsar in the village of Balau, people considered a spring and a reservoir sacred. People in Zewan believed that the saffron seed came from this spring. At the time of cultivation, they worshipped at this spring and poured cow's milk into it. If it fell and sunk into the water, it was considered a good omen and it was believed that plentiful saffron crop would grow, but if it floated on the surface, it would be otherwise.1 Similarly, people of Balau believed that whosoever was desirous of knowing the prospects of the harvest or whether his own circumstances were to be prosperous or unfavourable, filled an earthen vessel with rice, wrote his name on its rim, and, closing its mouth dropped it into the pool called Balau Nag. After a time when he opened it and if the rice was fragrant and warm, the year would be considered prosperous and his undertakings successful, but if it be filled with clay or mud and rubbish, the reverse would be the case. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari, II, translated by H. Blochmann and Colonel H. S. Jarrett. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1873 – 1907, 358. Another such reference also came from Kashmir, in Banihal where a temple was dedicated to Durgah. People believed that they could know the outcome of the strife between two people through an elaborate ritual that was followed in the temple. The ritual involved offering boiled rice to the deity. Abul Fazl, Ain–i–Akbari, II, 362. 6 Joaness De Laet, The Empire of the Great Mogol, translated by J S Hoyland, Delhi, 1928, 89, 91. 7 Arjun Appadurai, ‘Gastro–politics in Hindu South Asia.’ American Ethnologist, 8, 1981, 494 –511. 8 Abul Maali ate with Humayun in the same plate, Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, I, translated by H. Beveridge. Calcutta: Baptist Missionary Press, 1897 – 1939, 662. 9 Edward B. Harper, ‘Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion.’ The Journal of Asian Studies, 23. 1964, 181–183. 10 Goody, Cooking, Cuisine and Class. 11 Edward B. Harper, ‘Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion.’ The Journal of Asian Studies, 23. 1964, 181–183. 12 M. Marriott, ‘Caste reading and food transactions: A metric analysis.’ In Structure and Change in Indian Society edited by M. Singer & B. S. Cohn, Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1968, 133– 142. 13 Appadurai, ‘Gastro–politics’, 494– 511. 14 R. S. Khare, The Hindu, Hearth and Home. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing. House, 1976, 39. 15 Abul Fazl, Ain–i–Akbari, I, 57–59. 16 Harbans Mukhia, The Mughals of India. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. 17 R. S. Khare, The Hindu, Hearth and Home. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing. House, 1976, 137. 18 Ibid., 132. 19 Vincent Arthur Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, 1542–1605. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917. 20 Quoted in Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, 115. 21 Romila Thapar, Akbar. Microsoft Encarta Encyloclopedia Microsoft Corporation, 2001. 22 John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire (England: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 39 Anku Bharadwaj 23 Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, III, 580; Abul Fazl, Ain–i–Akbari, III, 395. 24 Badauni mentions, how to please the Hindus, this order, of abstaining from meat, was extended over the whole realm and capital punishment was inflicted on everyone, who acted against the command. Many families suffered ruin and confiscation of property. Badauni, Muntakhab, II, 331. Stringent punishments were imposed. For instance, if anyone were to eat with a butcher, their hands were to be cut off, but if he belonged to the butcher's relatives, they should cut off only his little finger. Ibid., 388. 25 Abul Fazl, Ain–i–Akbari, I, 395 26 Abul Fazl, The Akbarnama, III, 241–3. 27 Rosalind O’Hanlon, ‘Kingdom, Household and Body History, Gender and Imperial Service under Akbar’, Modern Asian Studies, 41, 2007, 889–923. 28 This was not just specific to the Mughal state. In an excellent study, Suraiya Faroqhi has shown the significance of food charity in the Ottoman Empire. Her study demonstrates the significance of the circulation and distribution of food in legitimizing the Ottoman sovereignty. Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire (New York: I B Tauris, 2005), 207. 29 Henry Beveridge, the translator of Akbarnama quotes Bartoli, ‘Bartoli Mission Al Gan Mogor, ed. Piacenza, p 7, speaks of Akbar’s fasting strictly on Friday, and ascribes it to his contempt for Muhammadanism.’ in Abul Fazl, The Akbarnama, III, 332 (Footnotes). 30 Badauni, Muntakhab, II, 268. 31 Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger:An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. New York: Routledge, 2001, 59–73. 32 Badauni, Muntakhab, II, 268. 33 Ibid., 303. 34 Ibid., 211. 35 Ibid. Vincent A. Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul Rosalind O’Hanlon, Kingdom, Household and Body History 36 37 Bibliography Primary 1. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari, III, translated by H. Blochmann and Colonel H. S. Jarrett. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1873 – 1907. 2. Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, I, translated by H. Beveridge. Calcutta: Baptist Missionary Press, 1897 – 1939. 3. Badauni, Muntakhab–al–Tawarikh, II translated by Ranking.Delhi: Lowe and Haig, 1980. 4. Joaness De Laet, The Empire of the Great Mogol, translated by J S Hoyland, Delhi, 1928. Secondary 1. 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