The following verses were, beyond doubt, written by Bengalis and for Bengalis. Check this and this out for other poetic outpourings in Sanskrit of the love for cooked fish.
(1) The most important fish in the life of a Bengali (especially if they are from "East Bengal") is the ilish or the hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha). In addition to being the principal ingredient in a large number of Bengali recipes, it has come to occupy an important position in local religion and culture: In many "East Bengali" Hindu families, it is customary to ceremonially offer a pair of hilsa (জোড়া ইলিশ) to Saraswati, the goddess of learning, speech, and the arts, during her annual festival on Vasanta Panchami, and to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, on the autumnal full moon day. I am also familiar with a tradition that prohibits the consumption of ilish from Ganga Dashahara (গঙ্গা-দশহরা; गङ्गादशहरा), the tenth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Jyaishtha (ज्यैष्ठ), until Vasanta Panchami. And finally, the Bangladeshis have, relatively recently, made the eating of panta ilish (fried ilish served over lightly fermented rice) for breakfast an integral part of the Bengali New Year celebrations.
But by no means am I claiming that Bengalis exercise a cultural monopoly on the hilsa in the Subcontinent. In Sindhi Hinduism, the fish, called palla or palo in the Sindhi language (I have found several variants of the name, and don't know which one is authentic), is intimately associated with the tutelary deity Jhulelal viewed as the deified river Indus and / or an incarnation of the water-god Varuna; the fish also features prominently in Sindhi cuisine!
Below, we have Kavichandra (possibly a pen-name), who had gained reputation as a humorist and extempore versifier in 19th century Bengal, paying tribute to the rich and exquisite taste of the ilish in the befittingly complex sragdharA (स्रग्धरा) meter.
Devanagari text:
(1) The most important fish in the life of a Bengali (especially if they are from "East Bengal") is the ilish or the hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha). In addition to being the principal ingredient in a large number of Bengali recipes, it has come to occupy an important position in local religion and culture: In many "East Bengali" Hindu families, it is customary to ceremonially offer a pair of hilsa (জোড়া ইলিশ) to Saraswati, the goddess of learning, speech, and the arts, during her annual festival on Vasanta Panchami, and to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, on the autumnal full moon day. I am also familiar with a tradition that prohibits the consumption of ilish from Ganga Dashahara (গঙ্গা-দশহরা; गङ्गादशहरा), the tenth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Jyaishtha (ज्यैष्ठ), until Vasanta Panchami. And finally, the Bangladeshis have, relatively recently, made the eating of panta ilish (fried ilish served over lightly fermented rice) for breakfast an integral part of the Bengali New Year celebrations.
But by no means am I claiming that Bengalis exercise a cultural monopoly on the hilsa in the Subcontinent. In Sindhi Hinduism, the fish, called palla or palo in the Sindhi language (I have found several variants of the name, and don't know which one is authentic), is intimately associated with the tutelary deity Jhulelal viewed as the deified river Indus and / or an incarnation of the water-god Varuna; the fish also features prominently in Sindhi cuisine!
Below, we have Kavichandra (possibly a pen-name), who had gained reputation as a humorist and extempore versifier in 19th century Bengal, paying tribute to the rich and exquisite taste of the ilish in the befittingly complex sragdharA (स्रग्धरा) meter.
Devanagari text:
विश्वाधारो हि वायुस्तदुपरि कमठस्तत्र शेषस्ततो भू-
स्तस्यां कैलासशैलस्तदुपरि गिरिशो मस्तके तस्य गङ्गा|
स्निग्धः पीयूषतुल्यस्तदुदरकुहरे श्रील्लिशोऽकिल्बिषोऽस्ति
प्राधान्यं तस्य को वा प्रकथयितुमलं भक्षणाद् यस्य मुक्तिः||
स्तस्यां कैलासशैलस्तदुपरि गिरिशो मस्तके तस्य गङ्गा|
स्निग्धः पीयूषतुल्यस्तदुदरकुहरे श्रील्लिशोऽकिल्बिषोऽस्ति
प्राधान्यं तस्य को वा प्रकथयितुमलं भक्षणाद् यस्य मुक्तिः||
– कविचन्द्र
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
vizvAdhAro hi vAyustadupari kamaThastatra zeSastato bhU-
stasyAM kailAsazailastadupari girizo mastake tasya gaGgA|
snigdhaH pIyUSatulyastadudarakuhare zrIllizo(a)kilbiSo(a)sti
prAdhAnyaM tasya ko vA prakathayitumalaM bhakSaNAd yasya muktiH||
stasyAM kailAsazailastadupari girizo mastake tasya gaGgA|
snigdhaH pIyUSatulyastadudarakuhare zrIllizo(a)kilbiSo(a)sti
prAdhAnyaM tasya ko vA prakathayitumalaM bhakSaNAd yasya muktiH||
– Kavichandra
Loose translation: The air[see notes] supports everything; on top of that floats the Great Turtle, and on his back rests the many-headed serpent Shesha; on Shesha('s expanded hood), rests the Earth, with the (sacred) Kailasa mountain standing upon her; atop this mountain, sits Shiva, and on his head dwells the river-goddess Ganga; and in her womb, resides the gracious hilsa – charming (or oily), ambrosial, and sinless (or flawless). No one can adequately describe the preeminence of this (fish) for liberation (from the cycle of rebirths) can be attained merely by its consumption.
Source: Udbhata Shloka Maalaa Appendix Verse 94. In Udbhata Sagara Part III Verse 178, गिरिशो is replaced with भगवान्, and प्राधान्यं with माहात्म्यं.
Notes: The first few words of this verse are quite surprising, and might contain a scribal error. In all the Indic cosmological traditions that I am aware of, the Great Turtle, who supports the stack of cosmic levels on his back, swims eternally in the infinite expanse of the causal waters (kAraNodaka (कारणोदक); kAranasalila (कारणसलिल), etc.), and does not fly in the air (in a literal or figurative sense). I think वायुः should be replaced with वारः (nominative plural of वार्, "water") or वारम् ("a large mass of water") here.
Loose translation: The hilsa, the giant gourami (Trichogaster fasciata), the barramundi (Lates calcarifer), the catfish (Clarias magur), and the rohu (Labeo rohita), the emperor of all fish – these five fish species count as vegetarian food.
Source: Entry 737 of Bangla Prabad, "Bengali adages", Second Edition, edited by Sri Sushil Kumar De, and published by A. Mukherjee and Co. Ltd. in 1952.
Notes: The word इलिश above follows Bengali orthography, although Sanskrit lexicographers record the forms इलीश and इल्लिश only; these latter forms would also fit the meter (shloka). Another vernacularism used by the author is bhetki (भेट्कि), the Sanskrit equivalents of which are भेकट and वेकट (19th century Shabdakalpadruma).
A variant exists in which the second quarter of the verse is replaced with बाचा भाङ्ना तथैव च: bAcA (बाचा; বাচা) = वाच (Eutropiichthys vacha); bhAGnA (भाङ्ना; ভাঙনা) = भङ्गान / भेकनि / भेकलि (Labeo boga).
I cannot decide whether this snippet of sarcasm was produced by Shaktas to encourage their Vaishnava brethren (tongue in cheek, of course) to take up the consumption of these types of fish, or by Vaishnavas to mock the (perceived) inability of meat-eaters to tell what is vegetarian and what is not. The implication of the couplet is that Bengali non-vegetarians enjoy these fish species as regularly as vegetarian dishes (for, regardless of whether meat-eating is allowed in their belief system, a traditional everyday meal in a Bengali home always includes a plethora of vegetables and dairy products).
Source: Udbhata Shloka Maalaa Appendix Verse 94. In Udbhata Sagara Part III Verse 178, गिरिशो is replaced with भगवान्, and प्राधान्यं with माहात्म्यं.
Notes: The first few words of this verse are quite surprising, and might contain a scribal error. In all the Indic cosmological traditions that I am aware of, the Great Turtle, who supports the stack of cosmic levels on his back, swims eternally in the infinite expanse of the causal waters (kAraNodaka (कारणोदक); kAranasalila (कारणसलिल), etc.), and does not fly in the air (in a literal or figurative sense). I think वायुः should be replaced with वारः (nominative plural of वार्, "water") or वारम् ("a large mass of water") here.
(2) Although Bengalis are notorious for their piscivorous lifestyle, there is at least one sub-group among them, the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, who have adhered to a strictly lacto-vegetarian diet for centuries, and have also been bandying words with their non-vegetarian Shakta compatriots over the propriety of ingesting animals in general and fish in particular. The irreverent piece that follows is presumably a product of this ideological conflict.
Devanagari text:
Devanagari text:
इलिशः खलिशश्चैव भेट्किर्मद्गुर एव च|
रोहितो मत्स्यराजेन्द्रः पञ्च मत्स्या निरामिषाः||
रोहितो मत्स्यराजेन्द्रः पञ्च मत्स्या निरामिषाः||
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
ilizaH khalizaZcaiva bhetkirmadgura eva ca|
rohito matsyarAjendraH paJca matsyA nirAmiSAH||
rohito matsyarAjendraH paJca matsyA nirAmiSAH||
– Anonymous
Loose translation: The hilsa, the giant gourami (Trichogaster fasciata), the barramundi (Lates calcarifer), the catfish (Clarias magur), and the rohu (Labeo rohita), the emperor of all fish – these five fish species count as vegetarian food.
Source: Entry 737 of Bangla Prabad, "Bengali adages", Second Edition, edited by Sri Sushil Kumar De, and published by A. Mukherjee and Co. Ltd. in 1952.
Notes: The word इलिश above follows Bengali orthography, although Sanskrit lexicographers record the forms इलीश and इल्लिश only; these latter forms would also fit the meter (shloka). Another vernacularism used by the author is bhetki (भेट्कि), the Sanskrit equivalents of which are भेकट and वेकट (19th century Shabdakalpadruma).
A variant exists in which the second quarter of the verse is replaced with बाचा भाङ्ना तथैव च: bAcA (बाचा; বাচা) = वाच (Eutropiichthys vacha); bhAGnA (भाङ्ना; ভাঙনা) = भङ्गान / भेकनि / भेकलि (Labeo boga).
I cannot decide whether this snippet of sarcasm was produced by Shaktas to encourage their Vaishnava brethren (tongue in cheek, of course) to take up the consumption of these types of fish, or by Vaishnavas to mock the (perceived) inability of meat-eaters to tell what is vegetarian and what is not. The implication of the couplet is that Bengali non-vegetarians enjoy these fish species as regularly as vegetarian dishes (for, regardless of whether meat-eating is allowed in their belief system, a traditional everyday meal in a Bengali home always includes a plethora of vegetables and dairy products).
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