DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SABBAVARAM, VISAKHAPATNAM,

A.P., INDIA

PROJECT TITLE:

WINE IN ANCIENT INDIA

SUBJECT:

HISTORY

NAME OF THE FACULTY:

Dr. VISWACHANDRANATH. M

NAME OF THE CANDIDATE:

AISHWARYA.V.V.BUDDHARAJU

ROLL NUMBER:

2018LLB003

SEMESTER:

1st SEMESTER
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

I am highly indebted to my Hon’ble History Professor, Dr.Viswachandranath Madasu, for

giving me a wonderful opportunity to work on the topic: “WINE IN ANCIENT INDIA”,
and it is because of his excellent knowledge, experience and guidance, this project is
made with great interest and effort. I would also like to thank my seniors who have
guided my novice knowledge of doing research on such significant topic. I would also
take this as an opportunity to thank my parents for their support at all times. I express my
sincere gratitude to each and every person who have guided and suggested me while
conducting my research work.
CONTENTS:
 AIM OF THE STUDY:

To study about the evolutionary process of wine in ancient India and the legitimacy of its
consumption in various ages and in various religions according to their literature (Vedas, Smritis,
Purans, Epics and Tantras).

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

This study allows us to analyse the various phases of the evolution of wine. This also gives us a
brief note about the various purposes for which it is once utilized and the extent to which its
consumption is accepted in the society during various periods:

1. 'Ihe Vedic period 2000 - 1400 B.C.

2. The Epic period 1400 - 1000 B.C.

3. Rationalistic period 1000- 243 B.C.

4. Buddhist period 242 B. C- 500 A.D.

5. Pauranik period 500 A.D- 1 124 A.D

.and in various religions depending upon the literary and other sources.
SCOPE OF THE PROJECT:

The scope of the study is limited to the study of secondary resources about the wine in ancient
India. The primary theme of this study deals with the evolution of wine (then called Soma) as a
very sacred juice brought from heaven which enhances health to a stage where its mere
consumption was cited as one of the most heinous crimes. This study also discusses about the
legitimacy of alcohol consumption according to various sources of the same time and how they
drastically differ from one another and also about the drastically differing opinions of people
depending upon the literary sources.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

The Primary sources that have been reviewed while researching on this topic are Books and Web
sources. The book “The Wine In Ancient India” by Dhirendra Krishna Bose served as a very
important resource in this study. The literature from this book served the purpose of providing
necessary information regarding the various names with which the drinks are referred and about
the opinions of the writers of various ancient literary sources.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The method of doctrinal study has been followed with critical analysis of the secondary texts
available. The resources that were found by the researcher were thoroughly gone through and a
comparative study is done for analyzing the legitimacy of consumption of wine in the societies
of various periods and according to various religions. The study was carried forward by the
qualitative analysis of the details that were available to the researcher.

HYPOTHESIS:

The researcher believes that the wine in the initial days is considered to be sacred because of its
intoxicating effects. But later stages of time revealed the true consequences that have to be faced
due to continuous consumption of wine and revealed to the world that it is addictive in nature.
The researcher believes that there was a certain stage where the various stages of social life were
indirectly affected because of the consumption of wine being legitimate and hence resulted in
illegitimising the consumption of wine to control its consumption by the citizens in their states in
later stages of ancient Indian history.
 BODY OF THE PROJECT:

INTRODUCTION:

As the researcher already mentioned in the aim of the project that the
status of wine in various sources of the history of ancient India will be discussed let us first see
the various sources which are to be quantitatively analysed. The Hindu Sastras are divided into
four types:

1. Shruti, which includes the four Vedas

2. Smriti, the work on social and family duties
3. Purans
4. Tantras

Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are also a part of Hindu Scriptures along-with Kautilya’s
Arthasastra. The sources also include Ayur-Veda or the science of life which deals in health and
medicine as a part of Atharva-Veda. According to the Hindu Shastras there are four ages, and for
each age a suitable shastra is giv . From the Golden age of righteousness, free from sin the
scriptures were the Vedas. The second age was the Treta-Yuga (righteousness decreased by one
fourth) the scriptures were the Smrities. The third age was the Dvapara-Yuga (righteousness
decresed by half) the scriptures were the Puranas. The fourth age is the Kali-Yuga (the iron age,
in which we find a lot of wickedness and the decline of all that is good) the scriptures are the
Tantras.

1. SHRUTI (THE VEDAS):

Vedas are the most respected and the most ancient religious
books of the Hindus. There are four Vedas, of which Rig-Veda is the chief from which all
the other Vedas are developed in due course of time through the interpretations of various
sects of Brahmans. In the Rig-Veda there is a mention about wine as there is mention
about the Grog shops where wine or beer is stored in leather vats for the use of public.
 But the chief intoxicating drink of those days was the Soma-
juice. According to the Rig Veda the Golden- winged Hawk, brought Soma from the
Heavens. Soma-juice was the fermented milky juice of a creeper called Soma (Asclepias-
acida or Sarcostemma viminale. It is described as having hanging boughs, bare of leaves
along the stalks, of light, ruddy (or golden) colour with knotty joints, containing in a
fibrous, cane-like outer rind, an abundance of milky acid and slightly astringent sap or
juice. This juice when pressed, mixed with other ingredients and when allowed to get
fermented gives the intoxicating sacrificial beverage.

The process of preparation is given by Windischmann as:

The plants plucked up by roots, collected by moonlight on mountains are carried on a car
drawn by two goats to the place of sacrifice where a spot covered with grass and twigs is
prepared, crushed between stones by the priests and then thrown into a sieve of loose
woollen weave, whereas , after the & whole had been further pressed by the hand and the
juice trickles into a vessel or kettle which is placed beneath. The fluid is then mixed with
sweet milk and sour milk or curds with wheaten and other flours and brought into a state
of fermentation.In this way the juice was kept for nine days to ferment.

DESRIPTION ABOUT SOMA:

“The beverage is divine, it purifies, it is a water of life, gives

health and immortality and prepares the way to heaven.”---This is the opinion of people
in those days about the consumption of alcohol. Let me quote a few hymns of Rig Veda
about Soma
 “O Soma your two leaves alternated and yo u attained a wonderful glory
thereby."
 “O Soma the leaves covered thee, a creeper o n all sides, and you flourished in all
seasons.”
  “O Soma you have been crushed , you flow as a stream to Indra, scattering joy on
all sides, you bestow immortal food.”
 “Seven women stir thee with their fingers blending their voices in a song to thee,
you remind the sacrificer of his duties at the sacrifice.”

There are sufficient evidences in vedas about the intoxicating

properties of this juice. The author of Rig-Veda goes into ecstacy on the virtues and exhilarating
powers of Soma. The chosen few who partook it, give most vivid expression to the state of
exaltation of intensified vitality, which raised them above the level of humanity. It was surely as
potent as wine. It was believed that this was the divine liquor which gave the gods the strength
and immortality without which they would lose their might and their eternal youth. This was the
Amrita or Ambosia. It can also be seen that there were sacrifices done in honour of Soma in
which the juice was first offered to the gods and then the priest and the sacrificing party consume
the juice themselves. It is needless to say that large quantities of juice were consumed. In the
invocation, we can see them announcing that, “O Soma there is nothing so bright as thou. When
poured out, thou welcomest all the gods, to bestow on them immortality”. A whole book is
devoted to the praise of this juice and it is alleged that by the offering of the juice the gods were
tempted out of the heavens.

IN YAJUR-VEDA:

We can find that Visva-rupa the son of Tuashtar, while performing the
Soma sacrifice drank so much of the juice that he vomitted over the sacrificial beasts. We see
from this that the Soma juice was quite an ardent spirit. It was the Vedic poets favourite drink till
Sura(barely beer) was discovered. The Soma plant should be collected from the mountains(
Hindu Kush) and brought over. While Sura became the drink of the people, Soma, despite the
fact that it was not so agreeable a liquor, became reserved for its old association, as the purest
drink, a sacrosant beverage, not for the vulgar and not esteemed by the priest, except as it kept up
a rite.
IN ATHARVA-VEDA:

It is mentioned that after the death, the devout are provided with seas
full of butter, sugar, milk, wine etc. There were a lot of praises for the beverages especially Soma
(the wine) and a few of them are as follows:

1.“Where there is eternal light, in the world where sun is placed, in that immortal, imperishable
world place me, O Soma flow thou for Indra.”

2. “Where the son of Vivasvat reigns as King w here the secret place of heaven is, where the
mighty waters are, there make me immortal. Flow thou for Indra.”

3. “Where life is free in the third heaven of heavens, where the worlds are radiant, there make me
immortal Flow thou for Indra”

4. “Where wishes and desires are, where the bowl of the bright Soma is, where there is food and
rejoicing, there make me immortal Flow thou for Indra.”

5. “Where there is happiness an delight, where joy and pleasure reside, where desires’ of our
desires “are attained, there make me immortal & Flow thou for Indra.”

2.THE SMRITIS:

The Smrities are the codes of law on domestic, social and religious duties
of man. Historians think that Gautama, Apastamba, and Vasistha belong to the rationalistic
period, Manu to the Buddhist period. The remaining 16 works are probably also based on ancient
Sutra works, but belong to the Pauranik period. Of these Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parasara are
considered to be the greatest and their injunctions are still carried out by the Hindus. In these we
can find that wine is looked down upon, especially to the higher castes, it is totally forbidden.
There were five most heinous crimes mentioned there, and drinking wine or spirituous liquor was
one of them (Sankhya).
 The punishment for consuming wine was very severe,” The one
who consumes wine should be made to drink that liquor boiling hot, until he was completely
scalded.” The higher castes, willingly and knowingly taking wine, are to die by drinking boiling
water, milk o r butter, (Yajna) or molten silver, lead or copper. (Deval).

And those unknowingly drink wine:

 He must wear sack- cloth made from the hair of the cow, must not shave, take only rice
or oil-cakes once in the night for one year. (Manu ll.93).
 He must abstain from any work or worship, and sustain himself with a small amount of
food for one year. (Bishnu 51. 1.2)
 The upper three castes must be initiated (in sacred thread) again, if unknowingly drink
wine.(Parasara 12)
 Gods do not accept offerings from a drunkard. (Artri 218)
 The son should not repay his father’s debts that are incurred in drinking. (Gautama 2)
 All kinds of wine are forbidden to the twice borns.” (Bishnu 22.81)
 Wine must not be drunk, given or accepted. (Usana)

The sages have strangely made a distinction between the soma juice drinker and a wine drinker.
Thus, if the one who consumes some juice smells the mouth of the one who consumes wine,
then he should do a penance. There are many such injunctions in various smritis, from which we
can find that drinking was not taken lightly, not drinking alone but even for smelling liquor,
touching the drunkard, penance had to be done.

3.THE EPICS LIKE RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA:

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are great religious books.

During the time of Ramayana wine drinking is existing in the society and was offered to gods in
worship. There are evidences of many sages and hermits using wine in festivals. There are also
instances where the ideal wife Sita was seen drinking wine with Rama, her husband in Ayodhya.
We can also see hermits like Visvamitra and Vasistha honouring their guests with many kinds of
food and wine. The common people during that time were addicted to drinking and we can find
that after Lord Rama was banished from Ayodhya, the entire town mourned the loss of Rama
and there were no sweet scents of wine anymore in the city.

The Mahabharata age is later and the common people appear to be

more sober but the rich and the brave, were not so.1All the primary characters of Mahabharata
are addicted to drinking. Ladies of high familiesalso used wine and we can find the queen of
Birat sending her maid to fetch wine.2 The great King Yudhisthira celebrated the horse sacrifice
in great pomp and there were seas of wine, lakes of butter, mountains of rice etc. 3 The
celebrations of Yadavas included wine, that their chief had to proclaim that,” any one preparing
wine within the city, must suffer capital punishment”. But still the entire clan was destroyed due
to a quarrel that started because of them drinking. Though all the leading characters were wine
drinkers, we can find that they were not quite blind to evils of intemperance, and some of the
best advices of Hindu- Shastras are found here. “To abstain from meat and wine is the best
Brahmacharya.” All those who will control themselves from drinking all throughout their lives
are called munis or hermits.

4.BUDDHIST TEXTS :

According to Buddhist literature, there are five commandments in

their religion which are binding on all Buddhists: leyman or bhikshus alike and one among them
was,” Let not one drink intoxicating drinks.” It is also clearly mentioned that the house-holder
who approves of this dharma should not give himself to intoxicating drinks, let him not cause
others to drink, nor approve of those who drink knowing that it will end in madness. And
drinking also falls under the ninety two minor offences which can be called for repetence.

1
R.C.Dutt-Ancient India Book II
2
Birat 16
3
Aswa 89
5.THE TANTRAS

There is a great difference of opinion about wine in these tantras. Even

today in Bengal, there are evidences of tantras hold on society it once had. We find that the
Tantric age, followed the Buddhist age as a reaction. The severe austerities of Buddhism gave
rise to revelry and debauchery. They talk about how the vedic knowledge is meeting the
infirmities of the present day world and hence we can find the use and abuse of wine. Wine
usage is indispensable in tantric rituals and great care is taken to prevent its abuse and misuse.
Before taking wine, it should always be purified as ther are sins attached to it, and to drink wine,
which is not purified by Mantras is a sin, and is like drinking poison.

A wife is not allowed to drink wine but can smell it. And in case of a
householder there are three sweets and they are: honey, sugar and milk and they should stay
away from wine as well. But as a ru le wine was absolutely necessary in worship and without
this one stands the risk of losing life. Ordinarily one takes five cups only, and drinks until the
sight and mind are not af fected, to drinkbeyond is ‘bestial

There are many praises of wine m the Tantras. Wine is called ‘ the
Supreme being in li&uid form . ’ It is called ‘the great medicine of humanity, helping u s to
forget deep sorrows, is the cause of great joy.’ But when not purified, it stupefies and
bewilders,breeds disputes and diseases.’ But when properly taken is ‘ the mother of enjoyment
and liberation’ . It “destroys dangers and diseases and burns up heap of sin and purifies the
world”. There are warnings too, and all excesses are forbidden to house-holder.hence it is quite
clear that the tantras supported the consumption of wine but in a limited quantity so as to
maintain balance between ones pleasures and their duties that are to be performed as a member
of their family and also as a part of the society.
6.AYURVEDA:

AYURVEDA, is the medicinal book of Hindus which talks about the

science of life. Charaka, is a part of ayurveda which dealt with wine in a very brief manner like
its usage, origin, qualities, varieties of it etc. From this book it is evident that wine is prepared
from the roots, flowers, leaves and bark and many other parts and from sugar honey and by
combinations of all these in numerous kinds of wines and liquors. Out of all these 14 kinds are fit
for human use. All these different kinds of wines can be differentiated into three types :

1. Gauri, prepared from sugar

2. Madhavi, from fruit juices
3. Paiste, from corn grains

Out of all these, the first two are wines while the last one is beer in the modern sense. All these
are prepared by fermenting the ingredients for some days. Some times first boiling these with
sugar, then fermenting and mixing these with certain leaves and roots for flavouring purposes,
and after a fort night, the liquor is decanted or distilled, and is ready for use.

In Ayur-Veda, like all other current and some modern medical books
we usually find much praise of wine, occasional warning for the abuse or misuse. We quote a
few passages for illustration. Gharaka says of wine ‘invigorator of mind and body, antidote to
sleeplessness, sorrow and fatigue, producer of hunger, happiness and digestion. If taken as
medicine, and not for intoxication, it acts as Amrita (ambrosia) it cures the natural flow of
internal fluids of the body. There is a nice ode on wine in Obarska and we give here translation
of a few passages from this (Wine) who is worshipped with the Gods, invoked in Santra-moni
yajna, who is Amrita to the soma juice to the Brahmans destroyer of sorrow, fear and is pleasure
happiness and nourishment (to men……) We must not leave this subject , without mentioning a
saying from Rajnighantu, a later medical book which is & A Brahman must not touch wine, if a
dead man has chance of regaining his life thereby, (that is by taking wine), even then he must
not. ”
CONCLUSION:

From the above study it can be concluded that the status of wine in various
periods of ancient India are detailed discussed. While the acceptance for wine in Vedic age is
complete, it has many obstructions in the later times. There are literary sources both in support of
consumption of wine and against this practice but all the conclusions given in these texts weren’t
the decisions taken at the spur of the moment. They were all critically analyzed after studying the
effects of over consumption of wine on the social and economic status of people and today, we
have a society where the consumption of wine or other alcoholic drinks is accepted as long as
they don’t cause harm to others under the intoxicating effect of it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books :

The Wine In Ancient India by Dhirendra Krishna Bose.

E-Sources :

1. www.academia.edu

2. www.dailyo.in