essay in sanskrit on food

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भोजन पर संस्कृत निबंध - Essay on Food in Sanskrit

Essay on Food in Sanskrit Language : In This article, We are providing भोजन पर संस्कृत निबंध। In This Bhojan Par Nibandh in Sanskrit we ...

भोजन पर संस्कृत निबंध - Essay on Food in Sanskrit

Sanskrit main bhojan je upar 3 yah 5 line aur uska anuvad Hindi mein

Sanskrit mey daal pr 5 line likhey

poshak tatvon par 10 line

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Sacred Act of Eating

In my great grandmother’s house in Thanjavur, every meal represented an elaborate ritual. She washed a fresh set of clothes every night, rose daily at 4 am, while the rest of the house still slumbered, and took a bath before cooking. Prior to touching any ingredients, she prayed before a faded wall covered with frame after frame of Hindu iconography. Only then would she start to prepare the meal.

When we sat down to eat, on the floor across from the prayer wall, the meal itself was systematic. First, someone laid plantain leaves on the cleaned floor. Then, the men recited Sanskrit prayers, pouring a little water into their right palms and circling their leaves with it to signify cleansing the mind and heart before approaching the food. Somebody took a little food and left it outside for the crows, to return part of the food to nature. Normally I was designated as the crow feeder.

After all this, the meal would commence with a clatter of sounds, colors, textures and tastes. We ate deftly, using our right hands to gracefully sweep food across the plantain leaf and lift it to our mouths. When the last morsel disappeared, several family members would say an old Sanskrit adage meaning “May the ones providing this food be happy and healthy.” The customs and the food contributed to a celebration of community and utter deliciousness.

Today I try to think of my food in this context. I love how truly delicious food can engage all five senses at once. Ripe, bright vegetables, their lush skins just begging to be chopped. The smell of spices–cumin, turmeric, saffron, coriander, mint–dancing lightly across the air. The inquisitive tang of my grandmother’s freshly churned butter. Crispy, warm pain au chocolat, or the sweet, slightly acidic tenor of fresh mango sorbet.

Hindu culture has an extensive culinary theology that ascribes ritual and mystical importance to food. Food is a manifestation of Brahman, the supreme energy motivating the universe. “Food is God,” my mother would tell me, as I pushed curry moodily around my plate as a child. At the time, I couldn’t relate; eating quickly was a ticket to getting outside. Although I didn’t revel in food, I always loved the rituals. They made meals more interesting for a child who would rather be playing with friends on the block.

Hindu scriptures point to three forces that influence food’s nutrition: pathra shuddhi, the cleanliness of the cooking vessels; paka shuddhi, the chef’s cleanliness and mental attitude; and pachaka shuddhi, the quality of ingredients. Because “you are what you eat,” Hindus believe that these three shuddhis, or purities, directly transfer to the eater.

The practical message? Eat like it’s your last meal, and be thoroughly aware of every bite. In Hindu culture, eating is a ritual: a sacrifice to the Supreme, unified by the recognition that process (cooking), object (food), and individual are all inextricably connected.

That’s why, for me, eating is not just about sating a hungry stomach. It’s about taking the time to prepare a varied meal and presenting it in an aesthetically pleasing way. I always eat sitting down, and try to eat unhurriedly, really tasting each bite. It’s a way to ground myself in the evenings after work, a near-meditative experience.

I’ve noticed that we tend to collectively push the seemingly mundane tasks that are critical to survival, like eating, into the background. For many, food is a steady, often mechanized habit. Yet, it has a depth that cannot be ignored. The next time you see something yummy, turn it into your own ritual: sit down, dig in, and enjoy every bite.

~  Deepa Iyer

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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Be happy. be healthy. see the good. - सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः, 6 comments:.

Wonderful comment, Mahendra, Munich, Germany

please write here sources of the mantras. because without sources his low weighting is directed. so please write source of all mantras.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Namaste from Argentina

Can we have this mantra in audio format..?

very use full in present style of teaching where no teacher is available with proper knowledge of Sanskrit, & Sanskrit is the base of all languages which should be taught from the early age & properly to make the base of kids or vidharthi strong for any language.

Please do add your name and place, after the comment.

• Corpus ID: 190383533

Food and drinks in ancient India : based on original Sanskrit sources

• Published 2007

11 Citations

Production and consumption of alcoholic beverages with its consequence in india: a short review, cultures of food and gastronomy in mughal and post-mughal india, coconut - history, uses, and folklore, perception of food and nutrition and dietary recommendation in health and disease : focus on caraka-sus ƒ ruta sam . hita – s, the holy cow: unravelling the mystery of its holiness.

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Correlates of problematic unrecorded alcohol consumption in Sikkim, Northeast India – Results from a cross-sectional pilot survey

The blooming prospects of probiotic products in india, listen how the wise one begins construction of a house for visnu: chapters 1-14 of the hayasirsa pancaratra, análisis del contenido en minerales en nabizas y grelos (brassica rapa l. var. rapa) mediante reflectancia en el infrarrojo cercano, soma :sacred drink in sanskrit texts from ancient age to present, related papers.

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Food and Love in Sanskrit Poetry: On the Margin of Desires

In Western representations, food and sex are frequently connected and compared in an erotic context. A survey of Sanskrit poetry shows that it was not so in the context of ancient India, despite the kāmaśāstras ’ dictates. Parts of women’s bodies are occasionally likened to certain items of food (mostly fruit and nectar), and can sometimes be drunk, but are rarely said to be eatable. Lovers who are madly in love or suffer from the pangs of separation lose their appetite, and in consequence become thin. In contexts of love-in-union, wine, but not food, is frequently consumed and appreciated for its aphrodisiac qualities. Except in some cases when the pairs of lovers are animals, or at least animal-like, descriptions of food consumption do not lead to the erotic flavour ( śṛṅgāra-rasa ), but rather lead to the comic ( hāsya ), sometimes disgusting flavour ( bībhatsa-rasa ). Food descriptions were probably considered improper for poetry, because food had too many unerotic associations, being a favourite topic of Sanskrit ritual, legal and medical treatises.

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Exploring indian culture through food.

Food and Identity

Food (Sanskrit— bhojana,“that which is to be enjoyed,” Hindi— khana, Tamil— shapad) presents a way to understand everyday Indian culture as well as the complexities of identity and interaction with other parts of the world that are both veiled and visible. In India today,with a growing economy due to liberalization and more consumption than ever in middle class life, food as something to be enjoyed and as part of Indian culture is a popular topic. From a 1960s food economy verging on famine, India is now a society where food appears plentiful, and the aesthetic possibilities are staggering. Cooking shows that demonstrate culinary skills on television, often with celebrity chefs or unknown local housewives who may have won a competition, dominate daytime ratings. Local indigenous specialties and ways of cooking are the subjects of domestic and international tourism brochures. Metropolitan restaurants featuring international cuisines are filled with customers. Packaged Indian and foreign foods sell briskly in supermarkets, and indigenous street food and hole-in-the wall cafés have never been as popular. Yet lifestyle magazines tout healthy food, nutritious diets, locally sourced ingredients, and sustainable and green alternatives. India’s understanding of its own cultures and its complex historical and contemporary relations with foreign cultures are deeply evident in public conceptualizations of food as well as in culinary and gastronomic choices and lifestyles.

As Harvard anthropologist Theodore Bestor reminds us, the culinary imagination is a way a culture conceptualizes and imagines food. Generally, there is no “Indian” food but rather an enormous number of local, regional, caste-based ingredients and methods of preparation. These varieties of foods and their preparation have only been classified as “regional” and “local” cuisines since Indian independence in 1947 yet have enjoyed domestic and foreign patronage throughout most of India’s history. Because of this diversity and its celebration, most Indians appreciate a wide array of flavors and textures and are traditionally discerning consumers who eat seasonally, locally, and, to a large extent, sustainably. However, despite some resistance in recent years, the entry of multinational food corporations and their mimicking by Indian food giants, the industrialization of agriculture, the ubiquity of standardized food crops, and the standardization of food and tastes in urban areas have stimulated a flattening of the food terrain.

Food in India is an identity marker of caste, class, family, kinship, tribe affiliation, lineage, religiosity, ethnicity, and increasingly, of secular group identification.

In the recurring identity crises that globalization seems to encourage, one would expect that food would play a significant part in dialogues about nationalism and Indian identities. But food in India has been virtually absent from the academic discourse because of the diversity and spread of the gastronomic landscape. Things are different on the Internet. In response to the forces of globalization and Indian food blogs both teaching cookery and commenting on food, are mushrooming in cyberspace.

India has several thousand castes and tribes, sixteen official languages and several hundred dialects, six major world religions, and many ethnic and linguistic groups. Food in India is an identity marker of caste, class, family, kin- ship, tribe affiliation, lineage, religiosity, ethnicity, and increasingly, of secular group identification. How one eats, what one eats, with whom, when, and why, is key to understanding the Indian social landscape as well as the relationships, emotions, statuses, and transactions of people within it.

The aesthetic ways of knowing food—of being a gourmand and deriving pleasure from it—as well as ascetic responses to it—are lauded in ancient scriptural texts such as the Kamasutra and the Dharmaśāstras . But historically in India, food consumption has also paradoxically been governed by under- standings that lean toward asceticism and self-control as well. Traditional Ayurvedic (Hindu) and Unani (Muslim) medical systems have a tripartite categorization of the body on its reaction to foods. In Ayurveda, the body is classified as kapha (cold and phlegmy), vaata (mobile and flatulent), or pitta (hot and liverish), and food consumption is thus linked not only to overall feelings of well being and balance but to personality disorders and traits as well. Eating prescribed foods ( sattvic foods that cool the senses versus rajasic foods that inflame the passions) and doing yoga and breathing exercises to balance the body, spirit, and mind are seen as very basic self-care and self-fashioning.

This appreciation and negation of gastronomic pleasure is made more complex by caste- and religion-based purity as well as pollution taboos. With some exceptions, since the early twelfth century, upper-caste Hindus, Jains, and some regional groups are largely vegetarian and espouse ahimsa (nonviolence). Often upper castes will not eat onions, garlic, or processed food, believing them to violate principles of purity. Some lower-caste Hindus are meat eaters, but beef is forbidden as the cow is deemed sacred, and this purity barrier encompasses the entire caste and religious system.

As the eminent pioneering anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss noted, there is a sharp distinction between cooked and uncooked foods, with cooked or processed food capable of being contaminated with pollution easier than uncooked food. For upper-caste Hindus, raw rice is deemed pure even if served by a lower-caste person, but cooked rice can carry pollution when coming in contact with anything polluting, including low-caste servers. Religion also plays a part in dietetic rules; Muslims in India may eat beef, mutton, and poultry but not pork or shellfish; Christians may eat all meats and poultry; and Parsis eat more poultry and lamb than other meats. However, as many scholars have noted, because of the dominance of Hinduism in India and the striving of many lower-caste people for social mobility through imitation of higher-caste propensities, vegetarianism has evolved as the default diet in the subcontinent. Most meals would be considered complete without meat protein.

History and the Culinary Imagination

India sought to define itself gastronomically in the face of colonization beginning in the twelfth century. First, Central Asian invaders formed several dynasties known as the Sultanates from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Then, the great Mughal dynasty ruled from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The British came to trade as the East India Company, stayed as the Crown from the eighteenth century until 1847, and then had their heyday as the British Raj from 1857 to 1947. The Mughals brought new foods to the subcontinent from Central Asia, including dried fruits, pilafs, leavened wheat breads, stuffed meat, poultry, and fruits. The Mughals also brought new cooking processes such as baking bread and cooking meat on skewers in the tandoor (a clay oven), braising meats and poultry, tenderizing meats and game using yogurt protein, and making native cheese. They borrowed indigenous ingredients such as spices (cardamom, pepper, and clove) and vegetables (eggplant from India and carrots from Afghanistan) to cook their foods, creating a unique Mughlai haute courtly cuisine.

From princely kitchens, the cuisine has made its way over the centuries to restaurants in major cities. In Delhi, the capital of Mughal India, as food writer Chitrita Banerji informs us, the Moti Mahal Restaurant claims to have invented tandoori chicken. In neighborhood Punjabi and Mughlai restaurants in metropolitan centers, the menu usually consists of dishes of meat and poultry that are heavily marinated with spices, then grilled and braised in thick tomato or cream-based sauces and served with indigenous leavened breads such as naan and rice dishes with vegetables and meats such as pilafs and biryani . These foods, in popular, mass-customized versions, are the staples of the dhabhas (highway eateries) all over India.

The British and other Western powers—including most importantly Portugal—came to India in search of spices to preserve meats, but the age of empire dictated culinary exchanges. India received potatoes, tomatoes, and chilies from the New World, and all became an integral part of the cuisine. The British traded spices and provided the technology and plant material and even transported labor to produce sugar in the West Indies.1 Indian food historian Madhur Jaffrey states that as the British Raj set roots in the subcontinent, the English-trained Indian cooks (Hindi— khansama ) to make a fusion food of breads, mulligatawny soup (from the Tamil mulahathani —pepper water) mince pies and roasts, puddings, and trifles. These dishes were later adapted to the metropolitan Indian table for the officers of the Indian army and British-Indian club menus. “Military hotels”— restaurants where meat and poultry were served primarily to troop members and often run by Parsis or Muslims—became popular as the new concept of public dining gained popularity in urban India between 1860 and 1900. The oldest known cafe from this era is Leopold’s Cafe in south Bombay (now Mumbai), where military hotel culture first took root. Other “hotels” or eateries primarily served, as they still do, vegetarian domestic cuisine in a public setting. In Bangalore, neighborhood fast food eateries called Darshinis serve a quick menu of popular favorites such as idli (steamed rice dumplings), dosa (rice and lentil crepes), and puri (fried bread), while neighborhood restaurants called sagars —meaning “ocean” but denoting a type of restaurant that has many varieties drawn from a commercial restaurant chain called Sukh Sagar, or “ocean of pleasure”—serve a wide array of dishes from both north and south India, as well as Indian, Chinese, and “continental food.”

“Continental food” in contemporary India includes a combination of English breakfast dishes such as omelette and toast; bread, butter, jam; meat and potato “cutlets;” an eclectic combination of Western dishes such as pizza, pasta, and tomato soup with croutons; bastardized French cuisine of vegetable baked au gratin with cheese and cream sauces, liberally spiced to make them friendly to the Indian palate; caramel custard, trifle, fruit and jelly; and cream cakes for dessert. Western cuisine is no longer just British colonial cuisine with these additions but a mosaic of specific national cuisines where Italian, and more recently, Mexican foods dominate, as these cuisines easily absorb the spices needed to stimulate Indian palates. Indian-Chinese food, another ethnic variant, owes its popularity to a significant Chinese population in Calcutta, who Indianized Chinese food and, through a number of family-run restaurants, distributed it throughout India, so it is now considered “local.” Street vendors serve vernacular versions of spicy hakka noodles, spicy corn, and “gobi Manchurian,” a unique Indian-Chinese dish of fried spiced cauliflower.

Despite this diversity, there are regional differences. Some observers con- tend that the Punjab—the Western region of the Indo-Gangetic plain of north India—is the breadbasket of the country. The region grows vast quantities of wheat that is milled and made into leavened oven-baked breads such as naan; unleavened griddle-baked breads such a chapattis , phulkas , and rumali rotis ; and stuffed griddle-fried breads such as kulcha and paratha . These breads are often eaten with vegetable or meat dishes. In the south, by contrast, rice is the staple grain. It is dehusked, steamed, and often eaten with spice-based vegetables and sometimes meat-based gravy dishes. The one cooking process that seems to be common to the subcontinent is that of “tempering,” or flash-frying, spices to add flavor to cooked food.

Contemporary India celebrates cuisine from local areas and culinary processes. The history of India, combined with its size, population, and lack of adequate transportation, left it with a heritage of finely developed local delicacies and a connoisseur population trained in appreciation of difference, seasonality, methods of preparation, taste, regionality, climate, diversity, and history though largely in an unselfconscious manner until very recently. Though many regional delicacies are appreciated nationally, such as the methi masala (fenugreek chutney) of Gujarat or the fine, gauze-like, sweet suther pheni (a confection that resembles a bird’s nest) of Rajasthan, regional delicacies such as the Bengal River carp marinated in spicy ground mustard and cooked in strong- smelling mustard oil often seem exotic and sometimes strange to outsiders. Train travel in India is a culinary tasting journey with stations stocking local delicacies, making it incumbent on the traveler to “stock up” on legendary specialties. Domestic food tourism creates and sustains a vibrant culinary imagination and a gastronomic landscape, both within and outside India.

The Indian Meal

The Indian meal is a complex and little-understood phenomenon. “Typical” meals often include a main starch such as rice, sorghum, or wheat; vegetable or meat curries that are dry roasted or shallow wok fried; cured and dried vegetable dishes in sauces; and thick lentil soups, with different ingredients. Condiments might include masalas (a dry or wet powder of fine ground spices and herbs) plain yogurt, or a vegetable raita (yogurt dip, also called pachchadi in south India), salted pickles, fresh herbal and cooked chutneys, dried and fried wafers and salted papadums (fried lentil crisps), and occasionally dessert (called “sweetmeats”). Indian meals can have huge variations across the subcontinent, and any of these components in different orders and with different ingredients might constitute an Indian meal.

Rice is a powerful symbol of both hunger and want as well as fulfillment and fertility. Until the late nineteenth century, however, only the wealthy ate rice, and most Indians consumed millet and sorghum.

When a multi-dish meal is served on a large platter in north India, the serving utensil is usually made of silver for purity. A banana leaf might be the main platter for a south Indian festival. In either case, there are various small bowls for each dish. This kind of meal is called a thali and is named for the platter on which it is served. The meal is eaten first with a sweet, followed by all the dishes served simultaneously and mixed together with the rice, based on the eater’s discretion. The meal ends with yogurt, which is thought to cool the body, and then followed by sweets and/or fruit. Festival meals usually end with a digestive in the form of a paan (betel leaf and nut folded together), which again has regional variations of style and taste.

Rice is a powerful symbol of both hunger and want as well as fulfillment and fertility. Until the late nineteenth century, however, only the wealthy ate rice, and most Indians consumed millet and sorghum. Nevertheless, the powerful symbolism of rice as a sign of fertility for many castes makes it part of marriage rites. Welcoming a new bride to the family home includes having her kick over a measure of rice to indicate that she brings prosperity to the household. A traditional test of a worthy daughter-in-law is her ability to “wash” the rice properly and to gauge the right amount of water it draws while cooking. Rice is still a symbol of wealth, and those families who have access to “wetland” where rice paddies grow are still thought to be wealthy and well endowed. Long grain scented basmati rice is India’s most popular variety and is valued in foreign markets as well. Efforts of the Indian government to protect Indian basmati rice failed, and now two types of American basmati exist, a situation many Indians consider shameful.

Gastronomic Calendars, Rituals, and Seasonality

In India as elsewhere, food culture is shaped by climate, land, and access to natural resources. The food system emphasizes eating agricultural and natural produce “in season,” such as mangoes and local greens during the summer, pumpkins during the rainy monsoon months, and root vegetables during the winter months. This emphasis is based upon a belief that in-season foods are more potent, tastier, and of greater nutritional value, although the yearround availability of many foods due to technology are beginning to change eating habits.

Cooks who are native to India are aware of culinary cycles and of multiple-dish recipes using fruits and vegetables of the season, some deemed “favorites” within caste groups and families. For example, prior to the ripened mango harvest of May and June, tiny unripe mangoes are harvested and pick- led in brine. The ripe mango and the pickled mango are the same species but are clearly different culinary tropes with different characteristics that are some- times attributed with fortifying, healing, auspicious, and celebratory values, based on taste, color, and combination. Connoisseurs are aware of desirable foods in local areas and sometimes travel great distances to acquire the first or best product of the season. Seasonality and regionality are also part of wed- ding celebrations, funerary rites, and domestic feasts. The winter peasant menu of the Punjab sarson ka saag , a stew of spicy mustard greens believed to “heat” the body, and makki ki roti ( griddled corn flatbreads), are imported to haute tables in Delhi restaurants as “rustic” fare.

Religious festivals also align with culinary cycles, festivals, or sacred periods of the year that are often associated with offerings to the gods and feasting on certain foods. The south Indian Harvest festival of Pongal in February is accompanied by a feast of harvested rice cooked with lentils in three different dishes, shakkarai pongal (Tamil-sweet), ven pongal (Tamil-savory), and akkara vadashal (Tamil-milk), accompanied by a stew of nine different winter vegetables and beans, offered first to tutelary deities and then consumed as consecrated food. Temples, especially those dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu, have a long history of developed culinary traditions and food- offering aesthetics. The Krishna Temple in the south Indian temple town of Udupi is known throughout India for the distribution of free seasonal meals to thousands of devotees. Other temples are known for offerings of certain sweets or savories of that region or enormous and detailed menus of offerings from the land.

The Globalization of Indian Food

Although it has never had a standardized diet, India has traditionally “imagined” its cuisine with respect to the incorporation and domestication of “foreign” influences. In the past two decades, with India becoming an economic powerhouse, a variety of multinational fast food companies have entered the previously protected Indian culinary landscape. They include Pizza Hut, Mc- Donald’s, KFC, Pepsico, and, most recently, Taco Bell. These companies have had to “Indianize” and self-domesticate to conquer the notoriously difficult-to-please Indian palate.2 Today, urban fast food chains in India have become common and are transforming the middle class diet.

At the same time, local food purveyors have taken complex regional recipes and modified them for ease of industrial production, leading to a pack- aged food boom in India.3 The Indian food market of $182 billion is believed to be growing at a rapid clip of 13 percent.4 Indian precooked packaged foods empires such as MTR, SWAD, Haldirams, and Pataks have gone global, avail- able wherever Indians now live, leading a quiet yet unrecognized revolution in eating habits. Formerly, the focus was upon rural, natural, fresh, and prepared on-site food. Now, there is a shift in emphasis to industrialized, processed food. These developments are partially reengineering local and caste-based special- ties for mass production, distribution, and consumption, changing past notions of what is traditional or valued.

Some scholars have suggested that Indian food is filtered through Great Britain to the world, though diasporic Indian groups have also contributed. North American eateries serve curries and rice, tandoori chicken , naan , and chicken tikka masala (said to be invented in Glasgow), while the Japanese make karai and rice, demonstrating the attractiveness of “exotic” India’s cultural power and reach.

The cultures of contemporary Indian cuisine, including the politics, food processes, production, and consumption, are simultaneously changing and exhilarating. Further innovation and increased attention to Indian cuisine will almost certainly occur and promises to be an exciting area of innovation and critical research in the future.

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• Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (New York: Penguin Books, 1986).
• Krishnenu Ray and Tulasi Srinivas, eds., Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food, South Asia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012).
• Tulasi Srinivas, “Everyday Exotic: Transnational Spaces and Contemporary Foodways in Bangalore,” Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Re- search 10 1 (2007): 85–107.
• Aroonim Bhuyan, “India’s Food Industry on the Path of High Growth,” Indo-Asian News Service , 2010, accessed July 10, 2011, see http://www.corecentre.co.in/Database/Docs/Doc- Files/food.pdf.

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Achaya, K.T. Indian Food: A Historical Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1994.

Appadurai, Arjun. “Gastro-Politics in Hindu South Asia.” American Ethnologist8 no. 3, Symbolism and Cognition(1981): 494–551.

——————. “How to Make a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India.” Comparative Studies in Society and History30 no. 1 (1988): 3–24.

Bagla, Pallava and Subhadra Menon. “The Story of Rice.” The India Magazine9 (February 1989): 60–70.

Banerji, Chitrita. Eating Indian: An Odyssey into the Food and Culture of the Land of Spices. London: Bloomsbury, 2007.

Bestor, Theodore. “Cuisine and Identity in Contemporary Japan.” Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society. London: Routledge Press, 2011.

Bhuyan, Aroonim. “India’s Food Industry on the Path of High Growth.” 2010. See http://www.corecentre.co.in/Database/Docs/DocFiles/food.pdf.

Collingham, Lizzie. Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Goody, Jack. Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A Study in Comparative Sociology . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

Jaffrey, Madhur. A Taste of India. London: Pavilion, 1989.

Khare, Ravindra S., ed. The Eternal Food: Gastronomic Ideas and Experiences of Hindus and Buddhists. Binghamton: SUNY Press, 1982. See also Mount Goverdhan in same volume.

Mintz, Sidney. W. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin Books, 1986.

Olivelle, Patrick. From Feast to Fast: Food and the Indian Ascetic in Collected Essays of Patrick Olivelle . Firenze: Firenze University Press, 1999.

Ray, Krishnenu and Tulasi Srinivas, eds. Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food, South Asia . Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.

Sen, Amartya. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlements and Deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.

Sen, Colleen Taylor. Food Culture in India. London: Greenwood Press, 2004.

Srinivas, M.N. The Cohesive Role of Sankritization and Other Essays. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, 1962.

Srinivas, Tulasi. “Everyday Exotic: Transnational Spaces and Contemporary Foodways in Bangalore.” Food, Culture and Society 10 no. 1 (2007).

Srinivas, Tulasi. “As Mother Made It: The Cosmopolitan Indian Family, ‘Authentic’ Food and the Construction of Cultural Utopia.” International Journal of Sociology of the Family 32 no. 2 (2006): 199–221.

Toomey, Paul. “Mountain of Food, Mountain of Love: Ritual Inversion in the Annakūta Feast at Mount Govardhan.” Ravindra S. Khare, ed. The Eternal Food: Gastronomic Ideas and Experiences of Hindus and Buddhists. Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.

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Essay on Importance of Art in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi. | कला का महत्व पर संस्कृत निबंध | कलानां महत्त्वम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Republic Day of India

Essay on Republic Day of India in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi translation. | गणतंत्र दिवस पर संस्कृत निबंध | गणतन्त्रदिनम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Examination

Essay on Examination in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi with transliteration. | परीक्षा पर संस्कृत निबंध | परीक्षा इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Pandita Ramabai

Essay On Pandita Ramabai in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi with transliteration. | पंडिता रमाबाई पर निबंध | पण्डिता रमाबाईमहोदया इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Essay on Cricket in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi translation. | क्रिकेट पर संस्कृत निबंध | क्रिकेटक्रीडा इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Teachers Day

Essay On Teachers Day in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi with transliteration. | शिक्षक दिवस पर निबंध | शिक्षकदिनम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

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AGRICULTURE AND ITS VARIOUS ASPECTS AS DEPICTED IN SANSKRIT TEXTS E-learning document

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Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lank, 2022

The goal of this study is to assess agriculture and its relevant parts such as processes, land, irrigation, manure, crops, and on so. The history of civilization proves that agriculture and civilization are intimately related to each other. From the ancient period to nowadays, agriculture has been considered one of the primary sources of income in the Indian economy. When the Aryans abandoned the nomadic life and settled down on the bank of sapta-sindhu (seven rivers) since then they adopted agriculture as a main means of food production. Here is remarkable in this context that at the first phase of the Ṛgvedic period neither Aryans were taken it as an industry, or nor a way of profit. Their organic agricultural systems were ecofriendly and food grains were favorable to health. Chronologically at that time agriculture grew proportionately with the increase of the Aryan population and it had considered a primary source of earning. Besides, it became one of the chief industries in that society. In Vedic society agricultural system is regarded as a sacred activity. At every stage of the agricultural system, Aryan farmers repeatedly prayed to their adorable good and goddess for getting maximum food grains, prosperity, development, and protection of crops. As no canonical history was written at that time, that’s why these subjects are written in this article from a historical perspective.

our country blessed with innumerable number of rivers which provides life to the entire species including the human beings. The rivers are being worshiped as goddess and mother to. Because without water no life can survive on the earth. Be it for drinking purpose or agriculture purpose or industrial purpose water is most essential. In fact water is one of important components of panchabuta. It is because of this reason water is being looked with sacred approach. In this paper an attempt is made about the important of water and its relating to agriculture. It was the duty of the king to protect the farmers as he was/is the backbone of the country economy. Dams embankment, channels are to be constructed to help the farmers to use the water for agriculture purpose. And in case draught and famine on the basis of the report of shanbhag/village accountant the land revenue was to be waived. In this way since the vedic period the agriculture is being nurtured, nourished, and protected. Introduction and importance of water.

Trans stellar Journals, 2021

Agriculture is an important part of the Indian economy and serves as its backbone. Our country's geographical location has made agricultural activities exceedingly comfortable. The current state of Indian agriculture has evolved over time, and it is impossible to understand where we were previous to freedom. India's developed agriculture system dates back to 9000 BC. Weeds, in addition to the pests identified in the Atharvaveda, were introduced during the late Vedic period. Charms and spells were used as preventative measures, along with certain materials that appeared to have pesticide effects. According to the Arthashasthra, a citizen's responsibility in the agricultural sector is a key concern. There has never been another moment in Indian history when agriculture progressed as much as it did during the post-Gupta period. Agricultural technology was exceedingly advanced throughout the mediaeval period. The Chola dynasty's agrarian culture hides the fact that the communal holding of land was eventually partitioned into individual plots, each with its own irrigation infrastructure. The British rule in India can be divided into two periods: the East India Company's rule, which lasted from 1757 to 1858, and the British Government's rule, which lasted from 1858 to 1947. Another significant development in Indian agriculture occurred between 1850 and 1947, when it became commercialized. As a result, the current generation should be aware of the use of our historical and traditional agricultural systems. This will allow us to construct future study, and it is also time to develop.

The Cambridge World History Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE–500 CE, 2015

Over 2500 years ago, Indian farmers had discovered and begun farming many spices and sugarcane. It was in India, between the sixth and four BC, that the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the famous "reeds that produce honey without bees" being grown. Modern agronomy, plant breeding, agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, and technological developments have in many cases sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Irrigation in India includes a network of major and minor canals from Indian rivers, groundwater well based systems, tanks, and other rainwater harvesting projects for agricultural activities. Of these groundwater system is the largest. "With a population of just over 1.2 billion, India is the world's largest democracy. In the past decade, the country has witnessed accelerated economic growth, emerged as a global player with the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity terms, and made progress towards achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals. The required level of investment for the development of marketing, storage and cold storage infrastructure is estimated to be huge. The government has not been able to implement schemes to raise investment in marketing infrastructure. Among these schemes are 'Construction of Rural Godowns', 'Market Research and Information Network', and 'Development / Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardisation. Research as the means to the development and application of effective technological and intellectual resources. Forms of data as evidence; types (quantitative and qualitative) and methods of handling for description and analysis. Methodological approaches to obtaining data; the role of observation, experimentation and deduction in both natural and social sciences. Development of hypotheses, testing; acceptance, rejection and reformulation. The role of statistics; applications and limitations. India agriculture system is very oldest .Vedic literature provides some of the earliest written record of agriculture in India. Rigveda hymns, for example, describes plowing, fallowing, irrigation, fruit and vegetable cultivation. Other historical evidence suggests rice and cotton were cultivated in the Indus Valley. The middle ages saw irrigation channels reach a new level of sophistication, and Indian crops affected the economies of other regions of the world under Islamic patronage.

Agriculture started with domestication of plants and animals in a few pockets of the globe during prehistoric times. Agrarian societies came into existence and flourished in different parts of India since the 13 millennium BC. Indians are believed to irrigate their rice fields during the 6 millenniumBCand cotton fields during the 4 millennium BC. It is not easy to draft the story of early agricultural development as there are neither corroborative texts, nor archaeological evidences. However, archaeologists and historians had been trying to reconstruct that history, especially after the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization. The present study attempts to trace the history of development of agriculture and irrigation in India till the commencement of Christian era.

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• food insecurity

When College Kids Can’t Afford Food

A s fall semester of college is in full swing, nearly a quarter of students face a little-discussed, yet pernicious challenge: food insecurity. 

According to a 2024 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), in 2020, 3.8 million college students reported experiencing food insecurity. More than half of these students reported skipping meals or not eating multiple times a day because they couldn’t afford food.

This food insecurity crisis didn’t come out of the blue. College students have struggled to access sufficient food for decades. What used to be viewed as the college trope of a student eating ramen for four years has become a full-blown crisis. More students with lower incomes and less generational wealth are enrolling in college. The cost of attending has grown along with increased food, housing, and other  living expenses . 

The recent GAO report provides the first-ever national systemic data on just how prevalent this crisis is.   

Make no mistake: It takes a massive toll on students—and our economy. Research consistently shows that food insecurity hinders student performance and  reduces college completion rates . That can delay or derail students’ careers and deprives our economy of  much-needed, college-educated workers . 

I experienced food insecurity myself as a young, single mother who was fighting to get out of poverty by attaining a college degree. My four-year degree dragged on 12 years as I worked to support myself and my family.

Read More: Millions of Americans Face Food Insecurity. They Need Help.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps people with lower incomes afford food, could theoretically help quell this food disaster. But in its current form, the program excludes millions of college students. That’s a massive policy blunder.

Currently, to access SNAP, applicants must have income below set  poverty thresholds  and meet certain citizenship and household criteria. People who are enrolled in a higher education institution at least half-time must also fulfill one other criterion to qualify. Some criteria include working 20 hours per week on average or participating in work study. 

Lawmakers passed these restrictions decades ago over unfounded concerns that students who were supported by their parents would abuse the program. Policymakers speculated that students supported by higher-income families would claim to be low-income by counting themselves as separate households. But there’s no research to indicate this has ever happened on a wide scale—any “evidence” is purely anecdotal. 

Nevertheless, these restrictions continue to block many individuals from accessing necessary nutrition support that could help them finish college, and sooner. The GAO report found that 4.5 million students who were enrolled at least half-time met the income thresholds for SNAP participation. But only 3.3 million met one of the exemption criteria— mostly by working at least 20 hours per week. 

That’s already a hefty task for students while managing their course load. But on top of that, two-thirds of these students reported not receiving any SNAP benefits despite appearing eligible. 

Unsurprisingly, the food insecurity crisis doesn’t affect all schools and students equally. A higher share of food insecure students attend minority-serving and for-profit institutions. Students experiencing homelessness, former foster youth, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming students, and first-generation students are also particularly vulnerable to food insecurity.

These food insecurity issues have wide-reaching impacts. Students struggle to perform at their highest level if they don’t have enough food. And working more hours results in less  successful education outcomes . If they don’t graduate, they lose crucial opportunities to advance in their careers and achieve higher incomes. In fact, over  40 million  people have attempted college but did not achieve a credential, which most attribute to  financial challenges . 

Ultimately, the system re-entrenches the cycle of poverty that made students food insecure in the first place. Case in point: Instead of completing my degree sooner, I was routed into poverty-sustaining wage jobs that forced me to continue to use public programs to survive, and delayed my ability to be economically secure. Restrictions on SNAP didn’t help me, my son, government programs, or my contributions to the tax system. Restrictions kept me in the system.

Our country also can’t afford to miss out on college-educated workers. A 2023 report from Georgetown University  found that 72% of jobs will require postsecondary education or training by 2031 and over 40% will require a bachelor’s degree. By failing to address food insecurity now, we’re also hurting our economy for the long haul. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. SNAP can and should ensure people can access an education that  we  know  leads to greater economic security . SNAP serves almost 80% of eligible households on average, but just 30% of students in need. 

SNAP is governed by the Agricultural Improvement Act, commonly known as the Farm Bill, which is traditionally reauthorized every five years . The legislation governs many other programs – including agriculture subsidies and disaster aid—but nutrition programs comprise the largest share. The reauthorization process is the window of opportunity to retool programs to reflect current and future economic conditions over the next five-year period. The program should have been reauthorized last year, but the deadline was extended due to partisan divide. The deadline is now set for the end of this month.

We should take advantage of this opportunity. SNAP has a long history of support across the aisle. Ensuring SNAP does not force people to choose between pursuing college or meeting their basic need for food is a commonsense adjustment that should have bipartisan appeal. 

Notably, other national programs—including the  Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act  (WIOA) and the  Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act  (Perkins) program already promote the pursuit of postsecondary credentials and degrees. Adjusting SNAP would simply bring it in line with other similar programs. 

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