image source, Alamy
Illupai liquor known as mahua drink has been a part of tribal life for centuries. The sale and collection of flowers of the Mahua tree (Ilupay tree) was banned during the British rule. Again recently it has started to gain attention.
I stopped by a beautiful waterfall on an early morning visit inside Similipal National Park in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. The pale-green flowers that fell from the surrounding trees looked like a carpet of woodland. Before seeing it, the scent of those sweet flowers pierced my nose.
They are mahua trees, said my guide Suresh Kisku, who hails from the Santhal tribal region. There was also a small patch of grass near the area where those trees were, with short, thick trunks and a cluster of dome-like upper branches. Mahua tree or Maduka longifolia is a tree that grows abundantly in the forested plains of eastern and central and western India. The Santhal, Gond, Munda and Oran tribes have been living in these areas for over 3000 years. This tree is considered as their livelihood. Traditionally these tribes have used the flowers, fruits, branches and leaves of these trees not only for food, fodder, fuel, art, medicine but also as barter money to buy grains. Apart from that, they are praising and protecting it through vibrant folk festivals, songs and verses.
image source, Conrad Braganza
Later that afternoon, Kisku took me to his house on the outskirts of the forest. There, his mother and his elder sister Geeta were preparing fermented mahua juice in a metal pot placed over a wood-burning stove. Two pots were placed above one big pot for brewing mahua.
The brewed juice is stored in a container set on the floor through a condensing tube. After some time, Geeta dipped a spoon in the juice and put the liquid in the fire. The fire burned like a white flame. “This mahua liquor is pure,” said Kisku.
That evening, I slowly sipped and drank the clear colorless liquid that Geeta gave me in a small cup made of leaves. The pure distilled mahua wine went down a new path of pleasure down my throat. It leaves a smoky floral aroma after drinking.
“Why didn’t you taste this before?” I wondered that.
image source, Conrad Braganza
From ancient times until the late 1800s, it was freely distilled and drunk by families belonging to indigenous tribes such as the Kisku. Mahua was also sold as a drink. However, the production of this liquor, which was considered as national liquor by the Indian government, suffered a heavy blow during the British rule. Mahua was defined by British rule as a dangerous drug that threatened public health and morals.
So they implemented the Bombay Abkari Act of 1878 and the Moura Act of 1892 enacted under British rule. These laws prohibited the tribals from drinking mahua and also prohibited them from collecting and possessing mahua flowers.
Small quantities of mahua flowers were collected, often with impurities, for clandestine brewing. At that time, it was generally the policy of the British government to control local alcohol production and to sell imported alcohol from Germany and Britain to generate revenue for military occupations.
“At the same time, some British officials recognized domestic drinks with cultural and nutritional value, such as mahua, but the threat of revenue took precedence,” said Dr Erica Walt, professor of modern history at the University of London.
Surprisingly, even after India’s independence in 1947, the old economic and social customs remained intact. “Like the British rulers, the production and sale of alcohol was associated with the government with a monopoly. Mahua was constantly subject to strict laws and regulations,” said Walt.
“Alcohol abstinence was the target of early nationalists, pickets and protests were held in front of liquor shops. Some nationalists insisted that alcohol was foreign to India. But drinks like mahua were important in the lives of various tribal people,” he said.
image source, Conrad Braganza
Mahua beverage preparation
Therefore, mahua is consistently classified as a low-quality hazardous drink. Tribal people are denied the right to produce and sell it outside their traditional markets.
“It tells you the nature of the post-independence Indian elites, they were so denigrating the lifestyles of the tribal people,” says New York University food studies professor, Krishnaendu Ray. “It has come to a point where the design of the Indian liquor industry is to make a lot of generic, homogenous products,” he said.
Contrary to the socio-political portrayal, the voice of mahua-capable quality wine took shape as the voice of some strong entrepreneurs keen to rebrand. Efforts were also made to bring about changes in excise laws to begin lifting the ban on this liquor.
“In Goa we introduced mahua drink under the Made in India category. After a lot of lobbying with the government we got permission to use the Made in India tag,” said Desmond Nazareth. Since 2018, he has introduced Mahua liquor and Mahua liquor under the brand name Desmondji.
The Goa-based distillery also sells Mahua in the state of Karnataka. Apart from Goa, Karnataka also recognizes mahua as a made-in-India liquor, rather than as a country liquor. According to Indian law, domestic liquor cannot be sold inter-state. So under the name of Indian made liquor, when sold in other states it reaches a large number of customers.
Over the last few years there has been a slow change in the attitudes of state governments and agencies. For example, in 2021, the state of Madhya Pradesh declared mahua as a traditional liquor. The state of Maharashtra amended its archaic laws to make it illegal for tribals to collect and store mahua flowers.
image source, Conrad Braganza
Flowers of the mahua tree
In the same year, for the first time, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Board, a government body, exported mahua flowers collected and dried by tribal people from the forests of Chhattisgarh state to France.
On the other hand, some states have lifted the ban on mahua. If this ban is lifted across the country, it will become a very viable business venture for the breweries.
In 2018, Susan Dias, director of a Mumbai-based start-up called Native Brews, started manufacturing Mahua in collaboration with Vasanthadada Sugar Company. “We have our recipe. We need a set of guidelines for production, distribution and marketing to make our first batch of mahua easily available nationally,” he said.
In addition, Diaz believes it is important to create a micro-industry to economically support indigenous mahua growers. Mahua wine industry should change from forest to factory system. In this system, the tribes have the rights to collect, store, and sell mahua flowers directly to distilleries, thereby monetizing the flowers.
For example, Nazareth works with tribal groups in the central Indian forests of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha to obtain flowers. Apart from this he is also associated with the Chhattisgarh State Small Forestry Cooperatives which promotes socio-economic programs for local tribals and commercialization of forest produce.
Quality matters when it comes to mahua flowers. Nazareth’s goal is to restore the value of Mahua, as well as to modernize its production and attract more people to it.
“We select only edible quality flowers. These are collected hygienically using nets. They are then dried on mats or solar dryers,” he said. He described how his company uses standardized yeast to ferment mahua and distill it multiple times (as opposed to the traditional one-time brewing method). This will package the 40% alcohol to international standards to maintain consistency of taste, potency and clarity.
Shadbi Basu, one of India’s best-known mixologists, believes it is important to elevate traditional methods to make Mahua a universal drink.
“When production volumes are limited, mahua can truly become a universally appreciated drink, just as the journey of small indigenous spirits such as tequila, sake and pisco began,” he said. A grade of mahua with a clean, smooth flavor used in cocktails. It has low methanol concentration. So it will help hangovers who want more intoxicants,” he added.
Mahua is a fair contender to be recognized as a traditional Indian wine. It will also become very popular on the global stage,” Nazareth hoped. 13 out of 28 states in India produce mahua. It is the only wine produced from the natural sweet flower in the world. It has a unique taste,” he added.
Nazareth and Braganza plan to ship the wine to the UK in the summer of 2023, then to North America and the rest of the world in a project called Mahua for the World.
For many years it was branded as an illegal indigenous liquor. It is a long journey to change this status quo and bring mahua to the doorsteps of large markets in India and abroad. I asked Kisku what he thought of this mahua product.
“And it’s not really understood,” he told me over the phone. But this sacred tree and its flowers are finally getting a recognition that I will share with my colleagues. He also said that we will celebrate this by drinking some Mahua.
Hitler’s scientists who came to Chennai in search of Aryans
BBC Tamil on Social Media: