Buffalo herdsmen convert milk into sundried cheese that is stored, cooked and sold as a speciality, explainsMJ Aslam
Maeshi’ Kraaji, the famous milk bread, and Nadur make a great preparation. Photo: Shahnawaz Taing
Unlike Kashmir plains, the hills of the valley have always been buffalo-abundant. Between Baramulla and Jammu, the pasturage-rich temperature on both sides of the mountains is higher than the plains and suits the production of milk, ghee and butter.
Buffalos comprise the main wealth of Gujar, who live in hill log houses over the mountains from Poonch to Udhampur. Buffalos love to be in moist climates and they need to be immersed in water daily.
Given the fact that the buffalos were the main livelihoods of a huge hill population, the Dogra despots had imposed a tax on milch buffaloes and cows. Named Shakh Shoomaree, the tax was collected at Re 1 and 8 annas per buffalo and 12 annas per cow. However, if a buffalo gave birth to a calf, it was exempt like that of a barren buffalo, Phundir.
Traditional Herdsmen
The owners took their buffalo herds to mountain pastures for grazing in the summers. They lived by making and selling ghee, butter and cheese from the milk. Though buffalo are not indigenous to Kashmir, a number of Gujjars do possess and rare the animal. Unlike Gujjar, the Bakarwals prefer rearing goats. Given the fact that the Gujjars in Kashmir lived far away from the markets, they could not quickly take their produce for sale, they have been producing a rare milk product, the Maeshi Kraj (Mounsheh Kreaj). It is sort of a cheese produced from buffalo milk.
Technically, it is a cake made of dried buffalo milk. Dogras call it Kalari. Normally, the Gujjars living uphill bring this “bread” to the market across Jammu and Kashmir.
In Gujjar ecosystem, buffalo are basic. They are basically cattle graziers and not cultivators. However, they do grow maize around their hill kothas and the grain goes into the use of cattle as well as the people. They used to follow the Arab farmer’s custom of contributing Friday’s milk production to charity. It may not be around now but certain families make charities-in-kind on Friday. Cattle are so vital to this socio-economic ecosystem that the death of an animal triggers routine mourning.
Milk Bread
In Kashmir, buffalos are less visible even in hilly areas. However, the markets like Shopian, Kupwara, and Baramulla do get some supply of Maeshi Kraji almost on a daily basis. Usually, it is barely a fraction of the demand that the supply meets. Foreigners call it milk bread.
Based on buffalo milk, it is made by churning it with sour milk or curd. The fat cheese appears at the surface which is separated from the leftovers and then pressed into a cloth. The paste is made into cakes or balls of cheese. Before sale and use, these cakes are allowed to dry up in sunlight.
Maeshi Kreji are very tasty with a pungent smell and sour taste. It is harder, however than cow cheese. Even though it has gone missing from most of the Kashmir markets, Maeshi Krej remains available throughout the year in Jammu at Samroli, Udhampur and Pahalwan Di Hati.
In South Kashmir, people cook sun-dried Maeshi Kraji with Nadru (lotus stems) during summer. The sun-dried Maeshi Kraji with Nadru is ground with onion in a stone mortar (Vokhul] with a pestle (Kajve or Choteh). The spices are added to the paste, which is cooked with milk or water to avoid stanching the cheese. It is allowed to boil for some time, till it thickens and then it is eaten either at lunch or dinner with cooked rice or roti.
Not In Kashmir Alone
In Italy, Buffalo milk cheese is mozzarella; in India, Khoya cheese is mostly buffalo milk. Afghan nomads and peasants used to make ghee, butter, curd and also a kind of cheese of cow and buffalo milk called Quroot which is still a living culinary tradition of the Taliban territory.
The milk was boiled with the dried fruit of a solanaceous plant. The cheese was freed from water by pressing in a cloth just as the Maeshi Karji are prepared. After adding salt to it, handfuls are made into small balls, dried hard as stone in the sun and kept for any length of time for consumption. It is reduced into a paste in a wooden bowl called Quroot Mal. It was fried in a quantity of ghee and eaten with bread, meat and vegetables. In the past, it was the national dish of Afghans. However, more refined Persians disliked this food and ridiculed Afghans, parodying the Arabic anathema into the words, La houla wa la illah Quroota Khuri. (God protect us from Quroot-eating-Afghans).
With the passage of time, however, Quroot is still prepared and consumed within and outside Afghanistan. Quroot-like dairy products were also known to some Bedouin tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. They made it into lumps and cakes with their hands and dried it in the sunshine before use.
A junior scientist at SKUAST-K, Dr Khalid Zaffar Masoodi is an award-winning biotechnologist who has been working on cancer biology. Founder of Kashmir’s first faculty-led biotech company of Kashmir, Cashmir Biotech Pvt. Ltd, he has been working on low-cost, healthy, non-toxic, and safe designer foods to cure and prevent various disorders including cancer through futuristic functional foods. Currently, his laboratory’s research is related to the identification of anticancer molecules for prostate cancer from medicinal plants endemic to Kashmir. In a freewheeling interview with Masood Hussain, he offers his knowledge about awareness to deliver and contribute new innovations in biotechnology and research on the causes, treatment and prevention of cancer through anticancer functional foods, designer foods, and superfoods.
TheNewsCaravan (KL): The conventional wisdom is that local issues have local solutions. Can we have local solutions to local health issues as well?
Khalid Z Masoodi (KZM): There are more than 200 types of cancer throughout the world and we can classify cancers according to where they start in the body, such as breast cancer ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer etc. We can also group cancer according to the type of cell they start in and these cancers are increasing day by day worldwide. 20 per cent of these cancers are genetic in origin according to studies and 80 per cent are caused by environmental factors, food habits and lifestyle changes. These factors mutate the DNA and cause changes in normal cell growth.
For example, our bodies intake 210 mcg per day of cancer-causing hormone-disrupting chemical phthalates found in every soft and flexible plastic we use in our daily life. The beverages in the plastic bottle are injurious as these plastic containers have phthalates that bind to endocrine receptors and overexcite them resulting in malignancies.
In dark chocolates toxic metals are lurking, it is a state of serious concern as they cause cancer. Preservatives used in foods contain carcinogenic components. Every single person consumes 150 pounds or 60-88 kg of preservatives in a year. Most of the preservatives’ in vogue contain acrylamide which is carcinogenic. The most popular fast food of today’s generation is French fries, potato chips, pizza, and cold drinks in which the presence of Acrylamide and glycidamide has been found. Burgers contain Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Studies show HCAs and PAHs cause changes in DNA that may increase the risk of cancer. Pizza preservatives – TBHQ and BHA, has been identified as human carcinogen. 1n 2016 as we all know potassium bromate used to soften bread and in many other food items was banned in India as they were found carcinogenic during the course of research.
The estimated numbers of cancer in 2022 were 17 per cent in the case of breast cancer, 14 per cent in prostate cancer, 4.9 per cent in thyroid cancer, and lung cancer was estimated to be 14.3 per cent worldwide. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths and the primary diagnosed cancer in men. No defined therapy against prostate cancer is present. Drugs cease to function after treatment in most cases. There is a need to cure and prevent deadly diseases with a healthier approach.
We define here the concept of Designer Foods that have added health benefits. Designer foods are normal foods fortified with health-promoting ingredients. These foods are similar in appearance to normal foods and are consumed regularly as a part of the diet. These foods are safe, non-toxic, organic, are cost-effective while the drugs available are cost-extensive and unaffordable by the majority classes of society and have added off-target effects.
We believe that a smart diet containing anticancer small molecules and molecules that can treat these disorders can help prevent these disorders The changing food habits of the modern world have changed, from green food (green vegetables), and herbs, to fast food, which is the main concern. We have experimentally shown that these greens, underutilised plants have high antioxidant properties. Some of our studies found some Haakh varieties have high anticancer potential against prostate and lung cancer cells.
KL: Can you tell us about your academic journey?
KZM: I completed my schooling at Burn Hall School, Srinagar and continued further studies at AMU. I completed my BSC (Hons) in Botany from AMU and pursued MSc and PhD in Plant Biotechnology from Jammu University under the mentorship of Prof Manoj K Dhar, former VC, University of Jammu, which I completed in 2010.
KL:What were the takeaways from your PhD?
KZM: During my PhD, I worked on the reconstruction of carotenoid biosynthetic pathway genes from purple-black carrot (Daucuscarota L). We successfully engineered E Coli that produced Lycopene and beta-carotene. Besides, we increased the production of these carotenoids using the Amplification Promoting Sequence, which increased the copy number of genes and hence their transcription and translation. We also worked on anthocyanins that act as effective natural food bio-colourant and real-time indicators of food spoilage that later helped in developing a smart gel that changes colour with a change in pH and can be used in food industries, biomedical industries and agriculture industries. Synthetic food colours pose a greater threat to humans and are responsible for causing various types of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
KL: You continued your post-doctorate in the same field or we changed the subject?
KZM: The main expertise in cancer biology was gained during my post-doctoral associateship at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. There, I simultaneously worked on many projects related to gene and drug discoveries against prostate cancer.
We found the role of many genes in prostate cancer progression like ELL2, DHX15, PABPCA, EAF2, PRP8 etc. I also helped discover new androgen receptors targeting small molecules. I also increased the efficacy of IADT, the study which came out in the Journal of Urology, Journal of Endocrinology, Oncogene, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, and PLoS One.
After my return from the USA, I worked as a Senior Resident at SKIMS, Soura for a short time before joining the Division of Plant Biotechnology, SKUAST-Kashmir as an Assistant Professor. The takeaway for me was that cancer cells are smart and if you try to target them through inhibition of the AR pathway they will salvage their survival through the PI3Kinase pathway. In metropolitan India, prostrate is now the third diagnosed cancer.
KL: You worked on cancer and then joined SKUAST-K which is all about agriculture. Is not it an interesting twist in the story?
KZM: It is always a challenge but biotechnologists revolve around the central dogma of molecular biology so DNA, RNA and proteins are the same which makes every organism. Upon my joining SKUAST-K, I surveyed various regions of Jammu and Kashmir to utilize the rich flora for new therapeutics against cancer.
It is very important that we do translational research that can result in an end product that can be commercialized and can be more useful than a mere publication or a patent. We knew that 60 per cent of the drugs in the market are plant-based or their analogues.
A rich repertoire of around 3054 medicinal and aromatic plant species (MAPs) are endogenous to Kashmir but were not explored for anticancer properties against prostate cancer through transcriptomics and AR targeted approach earlier. In a drug discovery programme initiated at SKUAST-K funded SERB, we screened 25,000 medicinal plant extracts from Kashmir’s around 350-400 medicinal plants. It resulted in the discovery of 16 new anticancer molecules against prostate cancer. Of these 16 molecules, five were from edible underutilised plants. Our laboratory has filed eight patents in the last three years.
Dr Khalid Zaffar Masoodi (SKUAST)
KL: Is there something that you can share with us about the new molecules you discovered?
KZM: The molecule SKIDDDL-1 present in the TaxO was the best among all the edible plants, which has been consumed for ages in Kashmir as a food supplement and as a vegetable. Over time, however, its use has diminished. This molecule effectively targeted androgen receptors in prostate cancer and decreased cellular progression, cancer cell migration (metastasis) in vitro and reduced tumour volume, and doubled the life expectancy in the mice xenograft model. A smart diet may help reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer, slow the progression of the disease, and prevent invasiveness and metastasis.
Awaiting a patent, we designed Magic Foods – a range of safe, non-toxic, plant-based anti-prostate cancer futuristic functional foods fortified with our secret TaxO that can be consumed on daily basis by populations worldwide that are at high risk of getting this peculiar cancer. The technology is cheap, safe and has no side effects.
Since SKUAST-K is the first Farm University to implement NEP 2020, now the faculty is permitted to have a start-up. I was joined by my two MSc students as directors of the faculty-led start-up. They are still studying but are job providers at the same time.
When we were doing this research, we had a great visitor from the University of Buffalo, Prof Samina Raja. We thought we can give something better to humanity if we worked together. So we have one collaborative project Haakh.
I am glad to share that soon you will have an anticancer Haakh variety. We are in the final stages of assessment and experimentation and after a thorough study of about 70 different variants of haakh we found some variants that have good activity against lung and prostate cancer.
The American University provided us with a small grant which we utilised in DNA bar-coding our Haakh, which can be accessed through GenBank. SERB, DST, Government of India has been kind enough and given me three successive grants without which what we did would not have been possible. My NC has always been my great support.
KL: Kashmir is India’s main apple basket. Have you worked on apple scab?
KZM: For Kashmir, agriculture is the backbone, especially the apple. The scab results in almost 30-40 per cent loss in apple. To prevent it we use around Rs 325 crore worth of fungicides which eventually go into our bodies through water and food. That is why people living around apple orchards have a higher incidence of endocrine-related issues.
We have worked on biotechnological approaches to scab pathogens in which we have identified new genes that can be used for producing cisgenic apples for scab resistance. This study was also published in one of the reputed high-impact journals. We used comparative transcriptome technology (RNA-Seq) for research that showed some genes expressed in the Maharaji apple and wild-type genotypes like Florina are not expressed in red delicious, so these genes can be transferred into red delicious to make the variety scab resistant. The process of producing cisgenic apples and breeding both techniques is underway.
KL:You have also identified some new wilt-causing pathogens. Tell us something about this.
KZM: One of my PhD scholars, Dr Tasmeen Parihar has identified six new Fusarium spp infecting solanaceous crops that were not earlier known to cause wilt in chilli, brinjal, tomato and capsicum. These findings came out recently in reputed journals.
We have many scientists in collaboration within and outside institutes. I am lucky to have good collaborations with Dr Zahoor A Bhat (Plant Pathology), Dr Khalid Bhat (Fruit Science), Dr Khursheed (Vegetable Sciences), Prof Mudasir Andrabi (Animal Biotechnology), Dr Tawheed Amin (FST) and many more.
KL: There is a major ethical debate regarding biotechnology, especially GM foods.
KZM: In biotechnology, we always have to face challenges related to transgenic plants but the fact is that in the near future (2050) breeding techniques will not be able to fulfil the need of the growing population. We will have to move towards biotechnology to feed the growing population of around 10 billion.
CRISP-Cas technology will enable us to knock out the antibiotic genes used in transgenic progress and we will have transgenic plants with only the gene of interest and not these antibiotic-resistant genes. Besides, we also use recombinant-based excision repair to make Cisgenic Apple. Since this research is going on we will have soon some good results.
And, the young ladies loved to hear and hum pan khae Sainya hamaro, sanvali suratiya hont lal lal, a musical melody of Asha Bhonsley from Teesri Qasam of 1966.
In the Pan Masla, a lot of other things are added for aroma and taste. KL Image: Raashid Andrabi
Pan is the commonly known name of piper-betel-leaf, which is chewed in the Indian subcontinent and some other parts of the world. How the betel leaves chewing came to Kashmir is an interesting study.
In Rajatarangini, there are references to Tambuli and Nagarakhanda leaves, which were brought as presents to some Brahman Rajas, namely, Jayapida, Ananta, Kalasa, Harsa, in ancient times by “foreigners” which included mostly dancing girls.
Ranjit Sitaram has equated Tambuli and Nagarakhanda with piper-betel leaves, while, according to Dr M A Stein believes Nagarakhanda leaves are not betel-leaves. He translates Nagara as ginger but adds that Nagara was never used as an ingredient of betel leaf chewing. Ranjit Sitaram’s translation of Rajatarangini is based, in his own words, on Stein’s acclaimed translation. On Sitaram’s translation, some bloggers have tried to link the modern kind of betel-leaf-chewing to ancient times.
According to Stein, transporting fresh betel leaves from outside till the recent past was most difficult in absence of facilities and hence the practice of chewing fresh betel leaves (pan) was totally unknown to “Kashmiri masses” in history; albeit, some Brahman kings, their attendants and dancers had a habit of chewing “betel leaves”, which had made their teeth red.
On record, however, betel-nut/catechu was imported to Kashmir from Punjab in the late nineteenth century as a spice or medicine but not as an ingredient of any betel-chewing [pan masala] which was unknown to the native population.
For Lip Beauty
Notwithstanding the aforementioned, chewing betel was an ancient practice all over the Indian subcontinent during medieval and post-medieval times. Betel was used by both men and women to dye their lips red and make them look attractive. People in the olden days were as anxious to look young, bright and beautiful as in our times. It was used to redden the lips to serve as a lipstick by womenfolk in the past.
It was used as a masticator. Under common belief, that pan strengthens the stomach, sweetens the breath, and gives the tongue, lips and teeth a reddish tinge. It was customary among people of the Indian subcontinent, all classes and communities, to take pan after their meals but many people developed the practice of taking it throughout the day. The areca nut (supari) was/is cut into small pieces, put in betel leaf with lime water, called Katha (lime made by Oyster and areca) and chewed with rolled betel leaf. The rich would mix with it costly spices like camphor, cardamom, cinnamon, honey, musk flavours, and dried-rose-petals and tie both its leaves with a silk thread, and keep it in golden and silver betel boxes (pan dabi). Some people bruised a portion of falafel (areca nut/sopari) and put it directly in the mouth as a nasha like a cigarette or tobacco.
A betel leaf was moistened together with a grain of chalk/lime, rub one upon the other, roll them together, and then place in the mouth. It was used by such people as opium. Some people took as many as four leaves of betel at a time, and chew them. Sometimes they spit out red-colour saliva. Some used spittoon (pan dani) for spitting out red colour saliva.
Among common Hindus, it was offered to the bridegroom and attendants (Baratis) at the bride’s house with sweet drinks. Abul Fazl mentions 16 items of women’s fashion and charm in the Mughal Era among all communities which included pan eating also. The royals kept pans in golden and silver boxes, while the common masses kept them in brass and wooden boxes.
Kashmir Dandas
In Kashmir, we had an old tradition of using the bark of walnut-tree (dandas) by womenfolk to brighten the teeth for a beautiful look and keep the oral health good. It was believed that the use of dandas kept teeth and gums stronger, besides refreshing the breath. Betel leaves were not used by men and women in Kashmir.
A Kashmiri pan seller is busy making a ‘dose’ for a client on Srinagar’s Residency Road in February 2023. KL Image: Rassod Andrabi
The tradition of pan-chewing appeared in Kashmir only after 1953 when Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was removed from office and incarcerated for a decade. It was inducted into Kashmirian society during the Bakhshi era (1953-1963).
Betel does not grow in Kashmir. In the late 1950s, several pan-shops appeared first in the city centre of Court Road, Palladium cinema, Ameera Kadal, Residency Road, Habba Kadal, and then at Exchange Road, Khanyar, Bohri Kadal, and other places till the 1970s.
The earliest of these pan-shops was one of a Pandit at Habba Kadal, Mir Pan House at Residency Road, Regal Chowk and Churasia Pan House at the corner of Court Road opposite Palladium Talkie. Pan has a variety of metha pan, alaichi pan and tobacco pan. The fennel seeds, coconut powder and clove became added ingredients to the pan masala.
Credible eyewitnesses have recorded that in Bakhshi and Sadiq regimes, new trends of life, style and fashion appeared among Kashmiri youth. They would visit nearby cinema halls in city centre to watch a movie, take Kanti and Kabab, coffee and tea, at Ahdoos and other newly set up restaurants in Lambert Lane, in the background of Kishore Kumar singing Elvis Presley’s style, Inna Meena Dika, Dai manna Dika, rumpumpol, rumpumpol.
Visiting Amar Singh Club for billiards by rich people became order of the day, it is recorded. The young men would stroll from one end to another on Residency Road in the evening, puffing cigarettes and taking rass malai at newly established sweet shops. They would either sing or hum Bollywood songs of great hits of the time, Junglee, Janwar, Jab Jab Phool Khilay, Arzoo and the like.
MJ Aslam
The theme of these Bollywood hits, mostly shot in Kashmir revolved around Vale, and its beauty and they triggered a huge rush of tourists to Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Mughal Gardens. The valley was in full bloom and the city was in full buzz.
Chewing pan by young people emerged as the new trend among Kashmiris during this time as its aroma had an intoxicating effect on their minds. It became trendy to chew pan with cigarette puffs by young men of Kashmir. And, the young ladies loved to hear and hum pan khae Sainya hamaro, sanvali suratiya hont lal lal, a musical melody of Asha Bhonsley from Teesri Qasam of 1966. During two decades from 1953-1975, upheaval socio-cultural and political changes took place in Kashmir and the lifestyles of many well-offs and bad-offs also underwent drastic changes.
(MJ Aslam is a published author and a columnist. Ideas are personal.)
Kashmir is famous for its multicourse mutton cuisine, the Wazwaan. That, however, never means that there are no candies and sweetmeats endemic to Kashmir, writes MJ Aslam
Technology has completely taken over and now the cell phone is almost a bank and a wallet. That is perhaps why financial institutions must be highly sensitive towards the apps they produce and ask people to use. This photograph taken by a TheNewsCaravan scribe on Friday, April 30, evening shows a vendor selling phereni for Iftaar. He would accept the payments digitally. Imagine, if the app does not operate. What will be the consequences for this young man?
Kashmir has remained famous for its food. It is as true with vegetable-based preparations as it is with non-vegetarian cuisine. There is a basket of candies and sweetmeats too.
Halwa
Everyone knows about Halwa. The sweetmeat was originally made of honey, camel’s milk, cashew nuts, and many other ingredients and brought from the Persian Gulf, via Bombay, in saucers to United India in the nineteenth century. Before that Halwa was unknown in India. Now, there are varieties of Halwa known all over India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Arabia, Persia and other parts of the world.
Historically, its origin lies in Persia (Iran), where it spread initially to Ottoman Turk Empire, Arabia, the Middle East and then to India.
Halwai is the one who prepares and sells the sweetmeat. Both terms have origins in Persian-Muslim food traditions. With the passage of time, Halwai became a term to denote the maker and seller of all kinds of sweetmeats or simple sweets.
In Kashmir, Halwa tradition must have reached towards the end of the nineteenth century as Halwa and Halwai were the names now known in Kashmir. However, it was non-Kashmiri Muslim Halwais from other parts of India who by 1980 started introducing and setting up their shops of Halwa-Paratha outside Kashmir shrines.
Some local Muslim Monje Ghier copied it from them. Monj e Gour makes and sells vegetable fritters and fried snacks called Monjgir Soda in Kashmiri’s common parlance. A variety of items like Nadir Monji, Alve Pakode, Gunde te Palki Pakode, Til e Kareh, Til e Goji and Monjgir Gade, are prepared by dipping lotus-stem-pieces [Nadru], slices of potatoes, onions and spinach, chickpeas, the kernel of water chestnuts and fish, respectively, in spiced-batter and then deep fried. Paratha is also deep-fried in mustard oil. The confectionery items prepared and sold by Monj e Gor are Khand e Gazri, Lala Shangrum and Busrakh.
Phirini, Pulav
Like Halwa,Phirni, an after-meal-dessert, a sweet pudding of condensed milk with Soji mixed with dry fruit like raisins, almonds, cashews, and pistachios, sprinkled with rose-water, has also Persio-Turkish origin. Muslims prepare other rich and aromatic sweet dishes of Pulav, mixed with almonds, and raisins and strewn with ghee and saffron.
Nabad, Honey
Sugarcane does not grow in Kashmir. Sugar was exclusively imported from erstwhile united Punjab up to 1947 but it was among the costliest imports to Kashmir. Kashmiris were fond of sugar. From Kashmir, Punjab sugar was sent via Leh to Changthang, Lhasas and then to Yarqand and Kashghar. It came in two forms brown colour sugar, which was called Batas, and white colour sugar which was called Nabad. Brown sugar is the shakar in Persian and Khaa’nd in Punjabi. But, in Kashmir, over decades, Khaa’nd became Khand, which is invariably used for white sugar crystals used by people.
Common sugar is known to Kashmiris, though originally when its import began to Kashmir in the nineteenth century from Punjab, it was called Nabad or Nabat. And, with the passage of time, Nabad denoted crystallised sugar into a big round ball.
It was mainly white loaves of Nabad that were consumed by Kashmiris in Kahwah and some food items. Nabat is a Persian word meaning sugar. Its modified Kashmiri version is Nabad. Nabad, as we know and understand in Kashmir, is sugar crystallized in an earthen pot or a copper container like No’ut and then carved out as a solid sugar ball in a semi-round shape, bigger than a football. It was done by Halwais or Monje-girs who supplied it to dry-fruit sellers and grocers for sale. Pieces of Nabad are called Kuza or Kuze.
It may be noted here that the small earthen dishes or pots in which sugar was crystallised and manufactured into what is commonly known as Nabad Nut were removed preparatory for the purpose of easy transportation of Punjabi sugar to Tibet and Central Asia via Leh. In Kashmir, however, Nabad No’ut retained its place in marital and betrothal gifts that were exchanged by the families of bride and bridegroom at the time of what was commonly known as Nabad-Nishain.
A Kashmiri sweetmeat seller, Halwaie, busy selling the fresh baked Paratha and Halwa. These sweetmeats are usually consumed in tons around the shrines on special festivals and occassions. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
The tradition was that the Nabad No’ut was carried by a middleman on his head while the boy’s mother and close female relatives followed him to the girl’s home. At the girl’s parental home, the mothers of the boy and girl would exchange Nabad-Kuze with swearing in sacred words of giving and taking young couple as husband and wife. Since this odd custom conflicted with the set procedure of Nikah Khawani in Islam, the tradition of Nabad-Nishain has disappeared from Kashmirian society since.
It may be noticed that Khand, Misri, Shakar and Gur are all different varieties derived from sugarcane.
Lawrence had suggested to the then Dogra government, an alternative to the sugarcane plants of cultivating sugar maple and beetroot sugar in Kashmir but the suggestion could not materialize. What people used in making Kahwah and food items like Pulao, Halwa, Phirni, etc, in the past, when sugar was not imported to Kashmir? They used honey!! The oldest known method of honey-making was adopted by Kashmiris. Even when sugar was coming to Kashmir in the past, many people resorted to this oldest known procedure of homemade honey as an alternative to sugar.
What was that method? In the past, houses were built of wood and mud. A round hole was dug inside-out in the wall of the house in which a tube 14 inches wide and 22 inches long of baked clay (pottery, earthenware) lined with a plastering of clay mortar, which was worked up with the husk of rice or with thistle-down, was inserted in the wall-hole. The outer side of the orifice of the hole was covered with a red pottery-ware disk (like Anuit) with some openings in it for the bees to enter the tube. On the mouth of the tube inside the house, a similar pottery plate was tightly fitted with plaster of clay and husk. When the comb was fit to be taken, the house owner would burn some grass near the orifice from outside causing the bees to come out and the owner collected the honey from the tube inside by removing the pottery dish from it.
Gulkand
Gul, rose petals, Kand, sugar or honey. Gulkand is the conservation of Kashmiri rose petals or candied Kashmiri roses (Kashur Gulab). Non-Kashmiri roses are not used in their formulation. In Kashmir, it was and is made of native heart-captivating, pink, elegant, scented rose petals mixed with sugar. In place of sugar, honey can also be mixed with rose petals to prepare the herbal formulation of Gulkand. Sugar and rose petals are pounded together in a traditional way for making Gulkand.
There is no historical record that it was exported from Kashmir to Punjab, Leh, Yarkand or Central Asian countries in the past. However, according to a late Kashmiri author in “his unpublished work”, Gulab Singh laid out Gulab Bagh of rose trees at Srinagar with the purpose of manufacturing Gulkand and exporting it to Punjab where sweet jams were in much demand those days, he writes.
The cited area that skirts the Kute Kol in North-West is Gulab Bagh in the larger part of which in the Bakhshi-regime came the formal Food and Supplies Department, though it was used in the Dogra period also what was known as Shali-Store. Shaheed Gunj PS was also built on part of it. Then, a ground in the backyard of the Food and Supplies Department [now Consumer Affairs Department] embracing the Kute Kol in the North-West was used for sports like football matches between departmental-football teams of Kashmir like Food and Supplies Department, SRTC/Transport, KMDA, Forest Department, Kashmir University and so on, during Bakhshi, Sadiq, Qasim, period till the early 1980s.
Recently, after reading down of Article 370, the said football ground from Mandir side of Chota Bazar on Kote Kol has been converted into an FCI food-supplies-store. But Gulab Singh having ever intended making of Gulkand is imaginary though on record, he had laid out this garden. This author could not find it from the “primary Persian source” anywhere the late writer has referred to and quoted in support of the claim that Gulab Singh Dogra wanted to prepare Gulkand of the roses of the Gulab Bagh: albeit, the garden was laid out by him. The Gulab Bagh in question should not be confounded with the commonly known Gulab Bagh of Alestaing (Ganderbal).
Kashmiris, both in rural and urban areas, prepared Gulkand at home for family consumption. Once prepared and packed in glass jars or bottles, it could be consumed for a long period of time. The pottery or earthenware jars are not good for keeping Gulkand as the moisture of the candied jam will be absorbed by the earthenware jar, squeezing juice from the pulp and making it dry and hard. So pottery and plastic jars and bottles are not used for Gulkand keeping and packing. Once prepared and put in jars, it goes on for years and years. This sweet rose-candied jam remains fresh and eatable for years. With honey, it becomes very powerful for body heat during cold seasons. Obviously, due to the availability of roses in summer, it is prepared generally in summer. It is still produced with Araqi Gulab from roses in Kashmir and sold in markets.
The origin of Gulkand is traced to Yarqand where it was very largely manufactured and it is known there by the same name as Gulkand. Kashmir had commercial and cultural relations with Yarqand and other Central Asian countries over centuries.
Gulkand must have been brought to Kashmir by the local and Yarqandi traders in the past. Huge commerce was going on between Central Asia and Kashmir for hundreds of years. Yarqand Sarai at Safa Kadal and Kaka Sarai near SMHS, Srinagar (on the latter site a private hospital has been built recently) are extant examples of the trade centres and commercial connections between Central Asia and Kashmir.
The Rose Atr
It may be noticed that otto /ottar of roses was introduced in the Indian subcontinent by Empress Nur Jahan in cooperation with her mother, Asmat Begum. Muslim rulers greatly improved upon the production of perfume-making in India. Otto of roses was a special fragrance used by nobles and common people alike as it is a rich Islamic tradition connected with Muslim religious rituals, festivals and worship.
The maintenance of rose gardens for distillation of rose water (Arqi Gulab) or rose-otto (Atri Gulab) or Gulkand requires constant care by the cultivators from the time of planting rose trees or rose-cuttings from nurseries to the time of harvest when roses are plucked in lakhs for the said purposes. The rose trees come into flower at the beginning of March and continue so through April and May.
MJ Aslam
In large rose gardens for the aforementioned objectives, flowers are plucked early morning by the gardeners engaged by the owners-cultivators in large bags and baskets which are then sold to the contractors (thakidars) for the said purposes.
Regular watering, pruning and high-quality manure feed for rose cultivation are absolutely essential for an industry of rose jams, rose water and rose ottar or for any medicinal and cosmetic purpose. Nothing of these sorts is mentioned about the Srinagar’s Gulab-Bagh in the Persian chronicle referred to by the late Pandit author in his “unpublished monograph” copy whereof is lying with me.
