608 GEAMINEu^. 



Eotnans, and by the Hindus in Vedic times, as an emblem of 

 fertility ; it was poured upon tlie bride at tlie marriage ceremony, 

 and in Northern India, wheat, millet and rice are still used on 

 such occasions. Wheat, as the most important food-grain, is 

 frequently mentioned by Hippocrates, ^vho calls it irvpos^ and 

 mentions three kinds ; Pliny also describes several kinds of 

 Triticum. Sanskrit medical writers also mention three kinds 

 of w^heat, namely, Mahagodhuma or large-grained, Madhuli or 

 small -grained^ and Nihsuki or beardless ; they consider it to be 

 the most nutritive of the food-grains, but not so easily digested 

 as rice. 



+ 



Many varieties of wheat are cultivated in India, and through 

 careless cultivation there is much mixture in the samples 

 brought to market. A number of samples purchased by one of 

 us in the Bombay market and sent to Australia for trial, were, 

 on careful cultivation, found to be all mixed, some of them 

 producing five or six distinct varieties. Indian wheats may be 

 divided roughly into two classes, soft and hard, the former 

 being mostly used for bread-making, and the latter for making 

 a kind of vermicelli and certain other preparations used by the 

 natives. Amongst the Hindus, owing to caste distinctions, the 

 whole process of grinding the corn, separating the flour and 

 making it into cakes, is usually performed by the women of the 

 house, consequently the demand for ready-made flour is limited 

 to the supply of the non-Hindu population, and some of the 

 less particular Hindu castes. In the Indian process of making 

 flour, the wheat, after cleaning, is placed upon a table and 

 thoroughly wetted and the water allowed to drain from it 

 during the night. The next morning, the still moist grain 

 is ground in handmills by women. It is then sifted^ and as 

 much fine flour and rawa or stiji (the heart of the grain) as can 

 be obtained are laid aside- The remainder termed ^' mha'^ is 

 again ground in a more powerful mill and an inferior kind of 

 rawa obtained from it. The residue after a third grinding 

 yields a coarse flour and bran. The bazar-made bread is of 

 two kinds, that used by the Mahometans and known as Nhh 

 which is in thin cakes, and loaf -bread introduced by the 



