Mahua: The Gift and Guilt of Indian Indigenous Alcohol
By Manoshi Nath
My first encounter with Mahua
As I tucked into a Mahua laddoo at the OOO farms Wild Food Festival 2023, I realized I had never tasted Mahua or its preparations ever before. And I wasn’t going to stop at the sweet laddu or the fragrant oil, I had to taste the alcohol too! I had heard of Mond, a drink that had recently been awarded the status of heritage liquor in Madhya Pradesh, it’s brewing roots in centuries old indigenous liquors made from the Mahua flower.
Indigenous alcohol brewing in India is practically timeless. From the Vedas to Valmiki’s Ramayana to the Arthashastra, it is easy to find the roots of alcohol brewing in ancient India. The Charaka Samhita lists 84 intoxicating beverages made from sweet agents like honey, sugarcane, and also the sap of coconut and palmyra trees. Grains like rice and barley, and intoxicants brewed from fruits like the Indian jujube (ber), grapes, mangoes, dates, jackfruit and pineapple. And of course, flowers like Mahua and Kadamba.
The Mahua fruit is used to extract edible oil, which is also known for its therapeutic properties and high nutritional value. Not just for consumption, the cocoa butter substitute extender prepared from Mahua seed oil, is a prized cosmetic product.
The flowers are dried and milled into flour or made into laddus. Its biofuel properties give it economic value. For the tribals, the Mahua tree is their deity and a way of life. From birth, through marriage, till the funeral rites, the Mahua is intertwined with their cultural life.
Even now, every year in April, the tribals head to the forests in the wee hours of the morning, collecting the best flowers that have fallen on the ground from the trees. They brave any wild animals that may come there and continue working till the afternoon.
Mahua liquor is the world’s only pot-distilled and fermented spirit made from naturally sweet flowers, making it a unique product not just within India but globally.
However, all indigenous liquors in India come fraught with a history of rejection, prohibition, discrimination and bans. A narrative of rejection, written by the colonisers.
Colonial British laws from the late 1800s
The British enforced laws which ostracised, abused and snatched the financial means for livelihoods from tribal communities. Post independence, many laws have been revoked and amended, but the history of suppression of these communities has led to a mindset which is yet to transform.
The first blow came from the colonial Criminal Tribes of India Act of 1871, which declared all tribes as criminals. To get de-notified as criminals, it was up to the tribals to appeal and protect themselves from this categorisation, which more often than not, was not granted to them. The act took away countless tribes’ ability to pursue their existing livelihood. Free movement was restricted as the tribals would be relocated to high security clusters and used as free labour in the name of nation building.
The British Government also enforced the Bombay Excise Act or the Akbari Act of 1878, with strict rules governing the production and consumption of alcohol. They realised that these strong alcohol brewing practices hindered their tax collection drive.
This was further strengthened by the Temperance Movement in Britain and India, which aimed to curb alcohol consumption among the masses. This movement found quick acceptance amongst the local women and became a part of the Indian Independence movement itself. Mahatma Gandhi considered alcohol to be injurious to the moral fabric of the nation, and was also against the import of foreign liquor. Post-independence too this movement continued across the nation with calls for laws enforcing prohibition.
The colonists also enforced the Mowhra Act of 1892, which banned the collection and storage of Mahua flowers by indigenous tribes, ultimately prohibiting them from making alcohol. The British considered Mahua a dangerous drug and a threat to public health and morality. Unfortunately, this crippled the tribal people’s access to a basic food and not just alcohol.
Was there a change in this narrative for the tribals post Independence?
Changes post India’s independence
Once India gained Independence, many laws were amended and repealed. Shashank Sardesai, a practicing lawyer and Partner at EverTrust Legal, a leading law firm tells us, “Post independence, The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was established and rehabilitation was attempted. In 2021, the Maharashtra Govt removed all restrictions on the sale, storage and consumption of Mahua by the tribals, with exemptions mentioned in the ‘Mahua Flower Rules 1950 for grant of licence in Form ‘MF-I’. Mahua is now recognised as a heritage liquor by the Madhya Pradesh Govt. They have their own bottle version of Mahua called Mond selling on the shelves. There has been further amendment in the Alcohol Prohibition Act as well.”
Some state governments enforced minimum prices to help the tribals. Those who collected the Mahua flowers from the forest in early April would sell to traders at the government support price of Rs 35 per kilogram or lower - an amount barely enough to hold body and soul together. Once the rains passed, the same traders who hoarded the Mahua would sell it for Rs 60 - 65 per kilogram. The 2021 change in laws allows the tribals to dry, stock and sell their own flowers now, independent of middle men.
In March 2020, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs under the Central Government of India and IIT-Delhi developed a Mahua Nutri-beverage, a Mahua-based alcoholic beverage with six fruit-based flavours and low alcohol content. These are small steps that bring hope.
Looking Ahead
Desmond Nazareth, founder of Agave India, Goa sees immense potential in Mahua, stating its journey to be similar to Tequila in Mexico. Securing a GI tag for it and for other locally brewed alcohol like toddy would go a long way to win an international status for these Indian liquors.
Enterprises like the OOO farms are doing stellar work bringing in a change in the mindset of people towards local farmers, tribals and small businesses.
The struggle, however, is nowhere near the end yet. The status of tribal communities is buried in exclusion. The long history of suppression has led to irrevocable damage to their lives. Amended laws, rehabilitation, education and financial literacy are the need of the hour now. Well defined free trade channels need to be set up and women, who are at the crux of all processes, need comprehensive rights that protect them. The Government needs to recognise the importance of the traditional knowledge and sustainable practices of tribal cultures. We must accept and respect the people of the sacred forests.
CITATIONS
https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Madatyaya_Chikitsa
https://ijshr.com/IJSHR_Vol.5_Issue.4_Oct2020/IJSHR0044.pdf
Manoshi loves to drown in food, attire and culture. Her work as a Costume Designer in the Indian Film Industry makes her travel and experience all 3! Exploring these historically and writing about them is her current passion.