Did you know that Rice, an export of India in ancient times, had the Grecian name of Uryza which is idenetifed by the Tamil word ‘arisi’?
Rice (Oryza sativa) is the staple food of the Indian subcontinent. and is grown in its Tropical and Sub tropical areas. Unmilled rice is known as "paddy". There is a huge varietal diversity of rice in relation to the aroma and morphological and grain charchteristics. From ancient days India placed great emphasis on growing aromatic rice and Hindu scriptures make mention of this fact in Charak Samhita, Vedas, and Rigveda and the oldest records.
Short grained rice of India are non-glutinous while Jasmine rice is gutinous. It is the dominant crop in India and one of its chief grains. and is grown in almost all its states.
Oryza sativa is the botancial name for rice as it is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or less commonly Oryza glaberrima (African rice). It is an erect, usually annual grass though there are also perennial forms. It varies considerably in height and habit according to variety with cultivars ranging from 30 - 180cm tall. Rice has been cultivated in India and China for at least 4,000 years. Also know as Rice Paddy, it was domesticated as early as 3500 BC, and by about 2,000 years ago it was grown in almost all of the present-day cultivation areas, predominantly deltas, floodplains and coastal plains, and some terraced valley slopes.
Aromatic rice is charchterized by special pleasant aroma and included glutinous endosperm types . Basmati rice is aromatic rice mainly grown in the Indian subcontinet which is long to extra-long grianed and slender. Any rice other than Basmati Rice is named as Non-Basmati rice. In Bihar it is long and medium-grained Patna rice. In South India (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) short-grained Sona Masuri (also called as Bangaru theegalu). In the state of Tamil Nadu, the most prized cultivar is 'ponni' which is primarily grown in the delta regions of the Kaveri River. In Maharashtra, a short grain variety called Ambemohar is very popular. This rice has a characteristic fragrance of Mango blossom.
Rice is named by various names in India. In vernacualr usage it is called Akki, Bhattha, Nellu in Kannada; Chaval, Dhan in Hindi; Ari, Navaranellu, Nellu in Malayalam; Arisi, Nellu in Tamil; Biyyam, Vudlu in Telugu; and Dhanya, Khanjarita, Sastika, Vilavasin in Sanskrit.
India is the world's second-largest producer of rice, and the largest exporter of rice in the world. The country recorded production of 132.9 million tonnes of rice in 2021-22, and actively produced every year, from an estimated area of 4000 Lakh Hectares. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Orissa and Bihar are the leading states in that order of production of rice.
Rice can be cultivated by different methods based on the type of region. But in India, traditional methods (transplanted by hand and then through proper irrigation) are still in use for harvesting rice.
The seeds of the rice plant are first milled using a rice huller to remove the chaff (the outer husks of the grain). At this point in the process, the product is called brown rice. The milling may be continued, removing the bran, i.e., the rest of the husk and the germ, thereby creating white rice.
The rice plant grows to 1–1.8 m (3–6 ft) tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and soil fertility. It has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm (20–40 in) long and 2–2.5 cm (3⁄4–1 in) broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm (12–20 in) long. The edible seed is a grain (caryopsis) 5–12 mm (3⁄16–15⁄32 in) long and 2–3 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) thick.
As a cereal grain, domesticated rice is the most widely consumed staple food for over half of the world's human population, particularly in Asia and Africa.
The biggest harvest festivals in India are linked to the time when rice is harvested. It is the sacred grain of India which will be explained in the next part 2
Note: The next part of the article is titled "Rice - Sacred Grain of India"
Narasipur Char
