A remarkable number of alcoholic drinks were available in early South Asia made from grains, fruit, sugarcane, palm sap, and also from the sweet mahua flower. Many drinks were complex brews of various sugar sources and herbs. Drinking was an innately social affair, whether this was lovers in private, drinking imported Persian wine from each other’s mouths, or the crowd of dancing, singing drinkers in an urban rice-beer tavern. Alcohol was almost always consumed along with salty spicy snacks for which we also have considerable evidence. In this talk, James McHugh introduces the drinks, snacks, and drinking cultures of ancient and medieval South Asia, based in his research on texts in Sanskrit and related languages.

James McHugh studies the history and religions of early India. He completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2008, and is now professor at the University of Southern California. His first book, Sandalwood and Carrion, explored the meanings of odors, perfumes, and aromatics in India. His latest book, An Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian History and Religions, is a study of alcohol, drinking, and abstinence in premodern South Asia.