Rice as a sacred grain in India - Part 2.

Rice as a sacred grain in India - Part 2.

Did you know that Rice, a sacred grain which has spiritual heritage in India, represents Prajapati or Janardana, as it is one of the earliest cereals known to humanity?

Rice, a sacred grain in India with the ancient scripture Vedas referring to it as simply 'annam', meaning food, represents vedic deity Prajapati (lord and protector of creation) or Janardana (monicker of Vishnu) as it is one of the earliest cereals known to humanity, and thus, is held in great reverence and is used in most religious activities of Hindus.

According to Dr Richaria, a well known rice scientist, in India 400,000 varieties of rice existed during the Vedic period, and even at present the number is reported to be 200,000; the Indian state of Chhatisgarh alone is stated to have 20,000 types. Atharva Veda defines rice as the "sons of heaven who never die". According to Taittiriya Brhamana, the god of rice is called Annadevata, the ancestor of the sacrifice, and also admonishes people not decry the role of rice. Shatapata Brahmana says rice emerged from the body of Indra and further elaborates:"From his marrow his drink, the soma juice flowed, and became rice: in this way his enrgies, or vital power, went from him". Hindu goddesses Annapoorna (meaning 'full of rice') and Lakshmi (goddess of wealth), and the combination of the two goddesses called AnnaLakshmi represent rice; Dhanya Lakshmi is another name for the Goddess who is depicted with a few sheaves of paddy in her hand. In Mahabharata epic, Lord Krishna gifted a vessel to Draupadi which would always be filled with rice and hence the vessel is named Akshayapathre. Archaeological findings indicate that rice was first cultivated in the region around the holiest city of Kashi.

Rice grains are used in the form of blessings as 'akshata'. Dry Rice is smeared with red vermilion and applied on the forehead of persons as it is said to bestow favourable charachteristics. It is one of the Navadanya, nine sacred grains, used in sacred ceremonies. During Hindu religious ceremonies, another use is as a 'havis' offering of cooked rice to the sacrificial fire in Yagna kund, propitiating gods. Rice smeared with turmeric powder is sprinkled by all the elders present in the marriage venue, on the newly married couple as a blessing. Only rice can form the base 'Aasanam' or seat for placing the sacred Kalasham (pot) upon it during religious celebrations. In certaian regions of India, the bride and bridegroom are made to even stand on a heap of rice during the marriage ceremony. Also, in many states of India, when a bride enters her husband's house, she is made to first push with her right foot from the threshold of the house a small metal jar or vessel of rice; this symbolises that with the spilled rice, she would usher prosperity to her new adopted house.

Rice is also used in the life rite of Namakarana or naming ceremony of the new born child which is done by writing the child's name on a plate filled with paddy or rice. Rice is also vital in the Annaprashana, a ritualistic first feeding of a child, which is conducted in the child's sixth or seventh month of life. Mashed cooked rice or a sweet rice pudding called kheer (Payasa in Kannada) is generally fed by the parents to their child with the priest chanting mantras. When elders of the family bless their kin, they wish that their life be full of dhan (wealth) and dhanya ((rice); the two words rhyming well. In some communities in South India, the bride and the groom, during the wedding, pour rice in heaps on each other signifying blessings of wealth and happiness of progeny.

In Tamil Nadu, Ponni Amman is the rice goddess who is worshiped in some regions of the state during July- August. Legend says that prayers by farmers to Ponni Amman saved paddy crop from devastation by floods and following this farmers erected a statue in her honour.

In Manipur, in Northeast India, Rice cultivation rites form an important part in the life of the farmer. Loutaba is a rite performed for rice before the start of agricultaral operations in their fields, in which a fistful of rice with flowers, eight Burma agrimony (Eupatorium birmanicum) buds, and sweets are made to gods with the prayer that the yield should be double of the previous year's yield. The Chengluk lubak kaiba rite on the wedding day is when the bridegroom brings a basket of rice to the bride's house.

The biggest harvest festivals in India are linked to the time when rice is harvested; invariably held during mid January. Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Makara Sankranthi in Karnataka and in Northern and Western states of India are all festivals where newly harvested rice is offered to the gods amidst lots fanfare that stretches over 2-4 days. In Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu, the day's celebrations include a morning ceremony of boiling rice with milk and jaggery , dish called Sakkarai pongal in Tamil, in clay pots individually or as a community, which is allowed to boil over, signifying prosperity. There are also smaller festivals linked to pre-transplanting, transplanting, invoking the rain gods, protecting and pre-harvesting. Pongal was the biggest and still the most celebrated festival in India. This festival is also called as Thai/Tai Pongal, which is a four days festival 

and is dedicated to the Sun god and corresponds to Makara Sankranti (day of trasit of Sun into Makara (Capricorn) rasi.

On the Makara Sankranthi day, cows and bullocks are washed and beautifully decorated, clothed, horns painted, decked with flowers and fed with Pongal thus honouring their total involvement in the agricultural process of giving milk and tilling the land. In the evening, the cows and bullocks are jumped over a fire lit with paddy chaff, called 'Kitchaisodu' in Kannada. But the counterpart Jallikattu festival held in Tamilnadu, though much more popular, but bulls and men participaing in the sport are invariably grievously hurt.

Among the Meitei people of Manipur, Rice is considered a magico-religious offering used during festivals to dispel spirits or ghosts from their homes. It is offered to the clan deity and on a variety of other festive events. The 'Chengluk lubak kaiba' is a custom on the wedding day when the bridegroom brings a basket of rice to the bride's house.They also make a food offering of rice to their ancestors during September- October for fifteeen days after the Full Moon day.

In Coorg district in Karnataka, a festival called the Huttari festival with 'pudda ari' meaning "new rice" is celebrated by Coorgi community during the rice harvest season in mid January with great fervour. There is no Brahmin interference at this time as the celebration held for a number of days as after tasting fresh rice includes extensive consumption brandy and pork.

Narasipur Char

Rice production in India - Part 1

Rice production in India - Part 1, History and production

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

Significance of Rice in hinduism

Significance of Rice in hinduism

In Hinduism, rice holds great spiritual and ritual significance as it is a staple of the Indian diet. Because of its basic life-sustaining qualities, rice is revered as a potent symbol of auspiciousness, prosperity and fertility and therefore is used extensively in Hindu rites and rituals. Rice particularly plays a significant role in some Hindu samskaras -- rite-of-passage ceremonies that signify transition periods in an individual’s life and personality development -- as well as in harvest festivals.

During a Hindu wedding, rice is often sprinkled over the newlywed couple to bless them with a prosperous married life. Because rice is thought to ward off demons, it is poured into the wedding fire by the bride and bridegroom. It is also offered by the couple to their patron household deity after the completion of the marriage ceremony and sprinkled around the house by the new bride to secure blessings on their joint home. In certain parts of India the couple will stand on a pile of rice during the marriage ceremony.

First Feeding Ceremony

Rice plays a central role in the Hindu ceremony of Annaprashana, a ritualized first feeding, as it is the first solid food placed in a baby’s mouth. The ceremony is conducted in the baby’s sixth or seventh month of life, depending on local customs and the health of the child, and is arranged by a priest. Simple boiled rice or a sweet rice pudding called kheer is prepared by the mother or grandmother of the child under the chanting of appropriate Vedic mantras.

Education Initiation Ceremony

The Vidyarambham ceremony initiates Hindu children into the world of education by exposing them to their first letters. During the ceremony, a child is assisted to form letters in a plate covered with dry rice grains. The letters are generally a mantra of prosperity that is again written with gold on the child’s tongue. Rice is utilized in this ceremony as it represents fortune and blessings for the prosperous development of the child.

Celebration of Rice

Thai Pongal is a mid-January festival celebrated among the Tamils of southern India to mark the end of the harvest season. The day's celebrations include an early morning ceremony of boiling rice with milk and sugar in clay pots. The boiling of the milk is considered an auspicious sign. The freshly cooked rice dish, called pongal, is offered to the sun god Surya to express gratitude for the successful harvest and the lengthening days, and to secure blessings of prosperity. Thai Pongal is actually a Tamil component of a change-of-seasons festival that is celebrated across India and known by various names such as Makar Sankranti. Although specific traditions vary by location, observances often involve the preparation of rice in special ways.

Sri Eswaran

Navara Rice a variety of Oryza Sativa, a special kind of rice grown exclusively in some districts of Kerala, is used in panchakarma treatment, the five therapeutic measures for complete Detoxification of body, called Navarakizhi

Navara Rice (Oryza sativa)

Did you know that Navara Rice a variety of Oryza Sativa, a special kind of rice grown exclusively in some districts of Kerala, is used in panchakarma treatment, the five therapeutic measures for complete Detoxification of body, called Navarakizhi?  

Navara Rice is a special variety of Oryza sativa, an Asian rice, which is cultivated largely in Palakkad and neighboring districts of Kerala state. It is called Navarakizhi in Kerala and is known as Shashtikashali in Ayurveda and is a replenishing drink, called karkidakakanji, and is effective in curing fatigue.particularly famous as the critical ingredient of a Kerala panchakarma specialty treatment procedure, a traditional rejuvenation therapy, undertaken for complete detoxification of body. It is a unique grain grass plant in the Oryza group which originated somewhere in Kerala and regarded as endemic. By officially assigning it a geographical indication status (GI tag), in 2017, granted by Government of India, Navara and Palakkadan Matta varieties of rice are a mark of assurance of quality and distinctiveness derived from a defined geographical region. 

This particular rice is mentioned in ancient Ayurvedic texts like 'Ashtanga Hridaya' and 'Susruta Samhita', as a 'pious grain' used on auspicious occasions. Navara also has religious significance and is sometimes used in temples for ceremonies. Navara is grown since ancient times, known as 'Shashtika rice' named so as as it takes a short span of 60 days to grow and mature. The field in which Navara is cultivated is known as 'Sastikyam'. It is of two kinds, the white glumed (hu sked) and black glumed (katalakam ). The 12th century Ayurvedic text, Ashtangahridayam, describes the white Navara as medicinally superior but the black glumed variety seems to be preferred by physicians today. It is a graismika (summer) variety of rice. Its use in Ayurvedic treatment is prescribed as a health food for people of all ages. 

Grown mainly in Palakkad's endless vistas of green paddy fields in Kerala, the rice belt of Kerala, Navara is Kerala's indigenous medicinal cereal plant. Herbal healers have endorsed its rich medicinal properties. It is a unique cereal having high content of free amino acids. 

Navara rice's claim to fame in Kerala as a special cereal, is its wide adaptation particularly in Ayurveda treatment for massaging human body using small hot pouches of clean cloth with small quantities of specially cooked Navara rice dipped in Kashayas (a decoction of the herb or tonics prepared with Navara Rice, Sid cordifolia (a perennial subshrub of the mallow family Malvaceae native to India called kurunthotti in Malayalam) powder, cows milk, and boiled with water) hyped to cure Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, paralysis and neurological disorders. Two masseurs use 8 pouches of Navara cooked rice, one masseur for the lower body and the other for the upper body knead the patients body - first four bundles are used for massaging and then the next four bundles dipped in Kashaya.  

Consumed as cooled rice, it is said to promote the growth of Red Blood Cells (RBC ) in the blood and a helpful remedy for Anemia patient. The porridge of Navara grains in milk is prescribed as special food for invalids and infants. Boiled Navara is said to be a good weaning food for infants, particularly those with low weight. It is a replenishing drink, called karkidakakanji in Kerala, and is effective in curing fatigue.

The cultivation of Navara, being restricted to a limited area and an endemic crop, , is hailed as the 'gold with fragrance' as any famer with a stock of its seeds can earn a good price in any season.

- Narasipur Char