Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

LIFESTYLES

throws was krita (four), treta (trey), dwapar (deuce) and kali (ace). These terms are the same as those given to the four Yugas into which the age of the world is divided in Hindu cosmology. Efforts were made by some of the medieval rulers like Ala- ud-din and Akbar to discourage gambling. Ala-ud-din banned it and ordered gamblers to be turned out of the capital. However, this evil seems to have persisted. Akbar put restrictions on gambling so that it could be indulged in on only certain festive occasions such as Nauroz and Diwali. Jahangir forbade it altogether but the practice seems to have continued and the European traveller, Thevenot, who visited India during Shah Jahan’s reign observed that much gambling took place in Delhi and Banaras, and a vast deal of money was lost and people ruined. He quotes the instance of a baniya who lost all his wealth and staked even his wife and child. The prostitute was a normal feature of urban life in ancient India. The higher class courtesan was expected to be a cultural companion like the hetaera of Greece and her training and accomplishments were described in detail in the Kamasutra (the Book on the Art of Love) that was compiled by Vatsyayana about the end of 3rd century AD. The Kamasutra is a remarkable document which discusses its subject in a threadbare manner which resembles the lucidity and precision of modem works on the subject. According to Vatsyayana the courtesan should be thoroughly trained in the 64 arts which included music, danc- ing, singing, the composition of poetry, cooking, dress-making and embroidery, flower arrangement and garland making, gardening etc. The prostitute was under the protection and supervision of the state. The Arthashastra of Kautilya suggests the appointment of a superintendent of prostitutes who would be responsible for the supervision of the palace courtesans, the inspection of brothels and collection of two days', earnings from each prostitute every month in tax to the Government. A type of prostitution, temple prostitution, was common in South India where it came into being in the Middle Ages. These were the Devadasis (female slaves of the gods) who attended on the god’s person, danced and sang before him. Four hundred of them were attached to the great temple of Tanjore during the reign of the Chola king Raja Raja I. But the system was abused and the Devadasis degenerated into common prostitutes with their earnings being collected by the temple authorities. The system survived till recent times when it was banned by legislation. Chaturanga, which developed into the world's most cerebral game known as chess, originated in India and was named after the four traditional wings of the Indian army (elephants, horses, chariots and soldiers). It was played by four players and their moves were controlled by the throw of the dice. The game was learnt by the Persians who called it shatranj and played it with two players. When Persia was conquered by the Arabs it spread all over the Middle East. It was learnt by the Christian crusaders from the Muslims and was introduced to Europe. Animal fights were popular despite the growth of the doctrine of ahimsa. There were fights between bulls, buffaloes, elephants and quails. In the Dravidian south, bull fights were extremely popular. The fights were popular among herdsmen who entered

When the Chinese traveller Fa-Hien, visited India in the 5th century A.D., he reported that people belonging to the higher castes did not " kill any living creatures, nor drink intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic." He wrote that the consumption of meat was confined to the lower castes. The growth of Mahayana Buddhism as well as Jainism which preached ahimsa or non-violence was responsible for the gradual disappearance of the Vedic sacrifices which involved the killing and eating of large numbers of animals and the spread of vegetarianism among Hindus. The Aryans used, pure ghee as the cooking medium. The poorer classes used vegetable oils. In Vedic times, Soma, an invigorating drink which was made from a plant which grew in the Himalayas was drunk at religious ceremonies. Sura was an intoxicating drink which was consumed on other occasions. In medieval times drinking was quite popular among the Muslims, particularly the upper classes and the soldiers. No attempt appears to have been made to put a check on drinking in the North before the time of Ala-ud-din Khalji (14th century) who issued orders strictly forbidding the sale and purchase of wine and intoxicants like toddy and hemp. Offenders were severely punished and sometimes thrown into wells specially dug for the purpose. The prohibition order was not strictly enforced by the later emperors till the time of Akbar who ordered severe punishment for excessive drinking and disorderly conduct. He even ordered the imprisonment of the husband of his eldest daughter for excessive drinking. Akbar also took steps to regularise the sale of wine for medicinal purposes. A wine shop was set up near the palace for selling wine on the advice of a physician. A register was maintained in which the names of the customer, his father and grandfather were noted. Though his son and successor, Jahangir, regarded a little wine as “a prudent friend” he curbed its use among his subjects. Prohibition was enforced during Shah Jahan’s reign and, of course, Aurangzeb took strict measures to ensure that his subjects did not consume liquor. Municipal officers were on the lookout for offenders and the European traveller, Manucci, records : “The pots and pans in which the beverage was prepared were broken daily by muktasibs (municipal officers)”. Arthasastra, recognising that drinking is an evil that cannot be altogether forbidden but must be strictly controlled, recommends the manufacture of liquor under super- vision in government-controlled breweries. It gives the names of many alcoholic drinks which were popular at the time: rice beer (medaka), wood-apple wine ( asava ), a liquor made from raw sugar (maireya) and mango wine (sahakarasura). PASTIMES The favourite amusements of the aristocratic classes were racing and hunting. The chariot race was extremely popular as also hunting, the animals hunted being the lion, the elephant, the wild boar, the deer and the buffalo. Birds were also hunted. Another favourite pastime was gambling with small, hard nuts. The players drew a handful of these from a bowl and scored if the number was a multiple of four. Later oblong dice with four scoring sides were used. The terminology that was used for the Kautilya's