Jeysundhar Profile picture
Feb 4 11 tweets 4 min read
I'm sure if we take the date back a few centuries, we'd see that most food of the Old World depended on Pepper from India.

How do we know?

Pliny the Elder himself tells us!
"There is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces"
#ShortThread
Pliny goes on to complain about pepper.
"It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion... pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency"
He continues, "and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite?"
So, we can concur that pepper from India (both long and black pepper) was sufficiently spicy to cause significant heartburn to Pliny.

In fact, the word "pepper" itself comes from the Sanskrit "pippali".
Most of this pepper came from Kerala and was traded through the glorious port of Muziris on Malabar coast.

Muziris finds mention in the Periplus (a travelogue of ports) of the Erythrean Sea (Red Sea).
This black fruit (botanically, pepper is a fruit) caused so much irritation to Pliny the Elder.

It also formed the core of the Maritime Spice Route from Asia to Europe.
Pepper was so valuable to Rome and Europe that it was used as ransom!

In order to lift the siege on Rome, the Visigoths headed by Alaric I demanded 5000lbs of gold, and 3000 lbs of Pepper (among other assorted things)
Even a millennium after Alaric, pepper was still in demand in Europe.

One could argue that the foundations of Venice, Genoa and several maritime republics stand on the strength of this dried black spice!
That famous sea voyage of Vasco da Gama was an attempt to discover an alternate sea route to the source of... you guessed it.

It was to get to the source of pepper and other assorted spices.
That of course, led to the Age of Colonialism and everything that followed.
But I'll stop here.

May our meals and lives be spiced up by this magical black seed, now and forever!

Thank you for reading!
Correction: Pliny did not say pepper was draining Rome by 50 million sesterces a year.

He said it was 100 million sesterces.

Double the heartburn, I assume!

Thank you,
@PrasunNagar

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More from @jeysundhar_d

Feb 5
Namaste Saarade Devi Kasmirapura Vasini!
Tvaam Aham Praarthaye Nityam Vidyaa Daanam Ca Dehi Me

I bow down to Sarada Devi, who resides in Kashmir!
I pray to you, Devi, please bestow upon me the gift of knowledge!

#VasantaPanchami Image
Muthuswami Dikshitar of the Carnatic Trinity, in his composition, Kalavati Kamalasana Yuvati, refers to Sarada Devi as
"Kasmira Vihara, Vara Sarada", once again establishing Sarada Devi worship in Kashmir.
Kalhana in his famous Rajatarangini, venerates the presence of Sarada Devi in Kashmir, as a Hamsa (Swan), in the lake on top of the Bheda hill.
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Feb 3
The consort of Siva as Tyagaraja Swamy at the temple in Tiruvaroor is the Goddess Neelotpalaamba.

She is called in Tamil as Alliyankodhai from the Tamil word Alli for the flower Lily.

#ShortThread
Muthuswami Dikshitar, one of the Carnatic Trinity, and a Devi Upasaka composed hundreds of songs.

Pic: A stamp issued in honor of Dikshitar in 1976 on his 200th birth anniversary.
Well-versed in Sanskrit, Dikshitar composed groups of songs, with the first word beginning with noun declension in each of the 8 cases (vibhaktis) of Sanskrit.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 1
Aryabhatta's Aryabhattiyam contains several important principles of Mathematics.

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It begins with an invocation to God. #ShortThread
That's the translation of the first verse of the Dasagitika.

It begins with a tribute to Brahman.

In fact, it says Aryabhatta sets forth the book only AFTER having paid reverence to Brahman.
Brahmagupta was both an heir and counterpoint to Aryabhatta's legacy (One could write a whole book on Brahmagupta's criticism of Aryabhatta).

His seminal work Brahmasputa Siddhanta speaks about positive numbers, negative numbers, role of Zero, and Brahmagupta's Theorem(AF=FD)
Read 15 tweets
Dec 16, 2021
The month of Margazhi begins today.
For these 30 days, temples and devotees celebrate the glory of the Lord in the month of Margashira.

Why this month?
Krishna says in Bhagvad Gita, among months He is Maargashira.

Maasanaam Maargasirsoham - BG 10:35 #Thiruppavai Image
The millenia-old Bhakti movement in the Tamil land found its supreme manifestation in the form of the 12 Azhvars and 63 Nayanmars.

Their literary contribution to Tamil, through the Tirumurais and NalayiraDivyaPrabhandham remains unparalleled. ImageImage
Andal was one of the 12 Azhvars, devoted to Vishnu, more specifically His form as Krishna.

She was the daughter of Vishnu Chithar, a devotee who is venerated as Periazhvar! Image
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Dec 13, 2021
Shall we begin with a thread on the Visvanathashtakam?

(I'm using the spelling I'm comfortable with. Please forgive the non-use of diacritics)

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Varanasi, a city that is "Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together", according to Mark Twain.

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The old town of Varanasi lies on the banks of the Varuna and Assi rivers.

(Ganga Aarti on the Assi Ghat)
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Dec 12, 2021
You know how we hear about those songs-

with a palpable thread of sorrow woven into the tapestry of happiness that the song otherwise is.
That famed மென்சோகம், perhaps foreshadowing a latent loss.

This song from Rani Samyukta
With a Sitar, Samyukta sings about her muse, her lover, Prithviraj, about how his memory will last as long as her heart beats.

She sings about her love for him, about his love for her.
But...
But, we know, we know that the future holds tragedy.

Prithviraj will win the first battle of Tarain and then lose the 2nd one.

Their life together forever will come to a premature end.
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