The lockdown eased partially in Karnataka last week, fully easing any concerns of liquor store owners about the loyalty of their customer base. Even before songbirds had stirred from their slumber, model citizens were seen queuing up in an exemplary fashion only last attested in colonial monochromes from the British Raj. The shelves were empty in two hours.
Drinking, or, as prim and proper academics and medical journals call it, ‘spirituous liquor’— was a big part of Indian courtly culture and poetry. The Vedic Sautramani sacrifice involves the brewing of a barley-based drink which is offered to the gods. You might even say we were microbrewing before it was cool.
Did you know that Varuni, the goddess of wine, rose from the ocean as it was churned by the gods and demons? Accounts cannot agree about whether she married the gods or the demons, and whether she was pleasant or quarrelsome. Memories become hazy, after all, once Varuni has been involved. Nor was drinking the preserve of men. The Kamasutra suggests that women have the first right over drinks at parties.
The Ramayana dedicates a long passage to describing the intoxicated women in Lanka. When Hanuman goes in search of Sita, he finds himself in the palace’s inner quarters, trying to locate Sita amidst thousands of women, drunk and happily asleep. Some are asleep with their musical instruments and others with their arms and legs intertwined around each other. Kalidasa says that in the kingdom of King Dilipa, even the wind would not dare lay a hand on women tipsy on the streets.
Where then was all this liquor sold? We know that in Mauryan times, every village had a watering hole, which was announced by a flag waving on top. Over a hundred kinds of alcohol are known from literature, including those brewed from mahua flowers, from mangoes, and from prize grapes imported from Afghanistan.
Most farces in Sanskrit involve plenty of drinking and the confusion that ensues. A Kapalika mendicant in Mattavilasa Prahasana praises Lord Shiva for creating a new route to liberation that involves drinking and having a merry time. Another Buddhist mendicant in the same text rues the Buddha’s prohibition of drinking. He is convinced that the instruction was inserted into the text later by someone spiteful and is determined to discover the authentic text to prove that it contains no such ridiculous instruction. Unfortunately, he has no such luck in the play.
One famous character from mythology who really likes his drinks is Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother, who some say was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The Bhagavata Purana describes Balarama singing with female companions as he sips wine. When an ape called Dvivida (a demon in disguise, of course) arrives on the scene, grabbing Balarama’s drink, Balarama is so furious that he kills him in a trice. In fact, Balarama enjoys his wine so much that Varuni is said to be his wife. What’s more, one of the names for an alcoholic beverage in Sanskrit is ‘Halipriya’—Balarama’s favourite. So now you know your new favourite god!