19 
1873.] Rajendralala Mitra —Spirituous Drinks in Ancient India. 
deodar wood, cloves, padmaka (a drug), leaves oftlie Andropogon muricatum 
(a fragrant grass), sandal wood, Anithum sowa, Ligusticum ajicana , black 
pepper, the white and the black cummin seed, carraway, jatamansi, nutmegs, 
Cyprus rotundas (mutJid ), grinthi parni (a drug), dried ginger, methi (a 
spice), and small cardamums. Now cover the vessel with two upturned 
chatties, attach thereto two pipes, and carefully distil the liquor. This wine 
should be drunk daily. It promotes the secretion of the constituents of the 
bodjq and is invigorating.”^ 
Although all the various Indian liquors are essentially the same, viz., rum, 
differing* only in being differently flavoured, in the eye of the Hindu law, 
the liquoi’s made from molasses, mowa, and rice are held to be more offensive 
than the others, and the punishment for drinking them, more severe. 
The flavouring ingredients used in the preparation of these liquors, it is 
said, materially altered their virtues, and medical works prescribe different 
liquors for different complaints. For ordinary use the rum from molasses is 
described to be the most healthful in the dewy season (October and November), 
the arrack from paddy in the cold and rainy seasons ; and the mowa liquor 
in spring, summer, and autumn. Connoisseurs were also formerly particular 
as to the age of their liquor, and the older the liquor, the better was it 
appreciated. 
Nor were they, it would seem, content with their home manufactures, for 
it appears from Arrian’s Periplus of the Erythrian Sea that large quantities 
of foreign wine were regularly imported two thousand years ago, and these 
met a ready sale in the country. The varieties mentioned are 1, Aa oSlkijvos, 
or wine of Laodicea in Syria ; 2, ItoAikos or Italian wine, and 3, Apa/3u<o<; 
or Arabian wine.f These, from the circumstance of their having been brought 
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f Vincent’s Periplus II, Appendix, p. 07. 
