SPIRITS 



History 



Sweet Liquids. 



History. 



Vedic Times. 



Manu. 

 Buddhist Works. 



Mnhammadan 

 Writings. 



European 

 Influence. 



Use of Babul 

 Bark. 



Punch. 



Legislation. 



Farming. 

 Manu- 

 facture. 



Direct Taxation. 



INDIAN DISTILLING 



distilled become the spirit more especially designated arak. In Sanskrit 

 the spirits or grades of arak from sweet liquors would be sidhu (from sugar- 

 cane = rum), gaudi or gouri (from treacle), Jcharjura (from date-juice), and 

 maddhika (from grapes = brandy). It would thus appear that the English 

 word alcohol came from the Sanskrit through the Arabic al-kohl, namely 

 from kohala, which is derived from ku (the earth) and Tiala (poison). 



History. The knowledge possessed by the Natives of India in spirits of various 

 kinds is very widespread, and dates back to the classic periods. Rajendralala 

 Mitra has shown (Journ. As. Soc. Beng., 1873, xlii., pt. i., 1, 58) that spirits and 

 other intoxicating drinks have been extensively used in India at all times and 

 by all classes. Bice spirit was both drunk and used in sacrifices during the 

 earliest Vedic times : the leading characters of the Mahdbhdrata were addicted 

 to strong drinks ; in the Ramayana the use of spirits is mentioned with appro- 

 bation : in the time of Kalidasa, drinking was common not only among men 

 but even with women of high rank : the Puranas abound in descriptions of 

 spirits and of drinking : and lastly the Tantras afford abundant proof of the 

 attachment on the part of a large section of the Hindus to over-indulge in 

 spirituous drinks. Manu condemns the use of surd ; kohala and jagala are 

 described in Susruta, a medical treatise of the 5th century. In Buddhist 

 works, on the other hand, the use of spirits is stringently prohibited, and in 

 Muhammadan writings, more especially the Koran, it is similarly proscribed, so 

 that with the orthodox followers of the Prophet the use of strong drinks is dis- 

 countenanced. But during the time of the Mughals in India, intemperance was 

 the rule rather than the exception. The Emperor Baber (Memoirs, 258, 354) 

 takes pains to describe, with minute detail, his drinking parties, and his subse- 

 quent renouncement of the use of wine. The Ain-i-Akbari gives full particulars 

 of an intoxicating liquor made from sugar-cane, and the still employed in its 

 production is that often seen in use to-day in the rural parts of India. The 

 author of the Ain also records the fact that excessive spirit-drinking prevailed 

 among the grandees at the Court of Akbar. [Cf. D.E.P., vi., pt. iii., 331 ; 

 also Sir George Birdwood's account of the strong drinks of India (E.I.C. First 

 Letter Book, intro. and n., xxii.).] 



Coming down to the commencement of European influence in India, Barbosa 

 speaks of the " hurrasa " of Surat in 1516. Linschoten, in the 16th century, 

 deplored the fact that the Portuguese soldiers were learning from the Natives 

 of India the pernicious practice of drinking spirits in place of the wine imported 

 from their own country. So also Pyrard (Voy. E. Ind. (ed. Hakl. Soc.), i., 

 358; ii., 73, 383) and Tavernier (Travels (ed. Ball), 1676, i., 243) mention a spirit 

 distilled from palm wine which was largely drunk by the people of India at certain 

 feasts. The latter also gives details of the method of its preparation. Thevenot 

 (Travels in Levant, Indostan, etc., 1687, pt. iii., 16), speaking of Surat, says that 

 spirits were made of jagre and babul bark, also of ton/. Thus the Natives of 

 India certainly did not learn from Europeans the art of distilling spirits nor the 

 habit of alcoholic indulgence. But there would seem little doubt that the 

 special use of PUNCH originated with the Europeans resident in India. That 

 word is accepted as derived from the Persian panj and the Hindustani panch, 

 and means five. It thus denotes the ingredients of a special concoction in favour 

 with the Europeans, viz. arak, sugar, lime-juice, spice and water. It would thus 

 appear that the Europeans were not prepared to consume the Native arak un- 

 diluted and invented the above concoction much as the Greeks prepared their 

 pentaploa (wine, honey, cheese, flour and oil). There is no evidence that the 

 Natives ever used the special beverage indicated nor employed the word panch 

 in the sense implied. Thus Mandelslo (1638) calls the Indian special mixture 

 palepunzen. Hedges (1658) speaks of having often remembered the Company 

 in a bowl of the clearest punch, while Fryer (1675) actually gives paunch the 

 etymology of denoting the five ingredients of the special beverage. 



Restriction and Legislation. So far as can be learned, the system of super- 

 vision over the traffic in intoxicants, exercised by the Muhammadan rulers of 

 India, was that of farming out the right of manufacture and sale to the highest 

 bidder. The British Administration inherited that system, but soon began to 

 introduce wholesale reforms. For some years past the policy pursued has been 

 to tax the traffic to the utmost limit possible, short of originating illicit produc- 

 tion. The aim has been to secure the maximum revenue from the minimum 



1044 



