Red chillies, green dhania, voggarane. Mass-produced majjige on a hot summer day has a taste all its own that hygienic, homemade buttermilk can never really match. At a temple in Gandhinagar in Bangalore on Sri Rama Navami on Wednesday, devotees of the brew line up to taste the thunder.
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
Tags: Churumuri, Gandhinagar, Karnataka Photo News, KPN, Majjige, Sans Serif, Sri Rama Navami
24 March 2010 at 8:32 pm
jai shri ram! anyone knows the history? — was the maryada purushottama fond of majjige, paanaka, usli, kosambari, et al.?
24 March 2010 at 8:43 pm
commenting about ram navami doesnt suit a secular site like churumuri. instead, it should stick to bashing hindutva and modi
24 March 2010 at 10:08 pm
Addition of ground Ganja leaves into this will turn this into ‘Rama Rasa’
25 March 2010 at 12:13 am
@kitapati,
great idea ;) never thought of trying this before.
25 March 2010 at 7:24 am
reading this post. all day i was humming this purandara dasa:
nachiketa sharma just brings this to life.
25 March 2010 at 1:04 pm
majiige is distributed in jatres also in some places in southern india.
it must be a practice from many centuries.
25 March 2010 at 4:11 pm
Hope it is hygenic.
25 March 2010 at 4:51 pm
Kitapati and Karihaida–
Throwing in some crushed marijuana would indeed make the thirst quencher a witch’s brew.
I think TS is referring to “Ramanama Payasakke Krishnama sakkare.” Rajguru’s rendition is also wonderful. But I prefer “Gudigudiyannu sedi nodiranna.” Getting high thinking of God. Wah.
25 March 2010 at 5:31 pm
KT and KH,
Isnt that what bhang is? Among the many things I havent done, I never got to drink or get high on bhang. And alas being where I am now, I dont see it happening in the near future either. Could anyone who has had it confirm that it gives the high of marijuana?
25 March 2010 at 7:00 pm
AG,
You are right about bhang. Going by the recipe of bhang, isuspect it should be the same kind of high as smoking weed as the magic content is THC in both.
But adding grass to our humble majjige sounds more charming.
PS: strong gasagase payasa + grass might be the ultimate drink …
25 March 2010 at 8:37 pm
Yeah, after a good meal and a big tumbler of gasgase payasa – you really want to pass out – but still not anywhere near the effect as the real stuff, sleep is after all different from hallucinating :) I heard that that is because the good stuff in poppy flower is removed when the seeds are processed, the seeds by themselves have very little opium.
25 March 2010 at 10:15 pm
@Sree, you may be right. It must have been an age old practice to publicly serve buttermilk.
Buttermilk is a popular summer drink in many parts of India. Earlier it was common to see flavored majjige or chaas as it is called in parts of North/ West India served outdoors, till soft drinks started becoming easily available.
25 March 2010 at 11:04 pm
in many of the indian texts (mostly hindu) i have read the undercurrent is that spirituality is not beyond human psychology and even human physiology.
so they had already anticipated questions about sleep and its relation to spirituality etc. they even a consistent theory about it. to start AG, lookup concepts like turiya and sushupti.
when we think about religion, we think about morality and social aspects. but indian canons dont really dwell on those aspects. they stress that these are functions of time and must change according to the relevant dynamics.
but the essential nature of man is a fairly stable entity, despite what how he looks, what he believes is true and correct etc. much of the focus and concern is about figuring out that invariant self.
that canon of indian work is priceless and unique.
25 March 2010 at 11:28 pm
AG,
only noobs hallucinate from weed, unless it is G13 ;)
One must be crazy to try grass after a heavy meal… the munchies afterwards might cause death due to burst stomach ;)
25 March 2010 at 11:44 pm
tsubba,
Your message had an effect of gasagase payasa on me. Just joking… thanks for this gyan.
But I was looking less at the metaphysics and more the physical experience of taking bhang and hallucinating by myself. Maybe come up with some insights of my own in the process – it seemed to happen the couple of times I did it before (though not with bhang).
About the canon of Indian work – I have to pass on that – zero knowledge. Maybe some day, I will come to you to get me started off…
26 March 2010 at 3:38 am
Ee flexibility namma pusthakagalalli adenge kandyappo, TS? Nithyaanandana thara vadaradu byaada koose.
26 March 2010 at 7:31 am
Bang is best served with milk. Buttermilk is used to get over the hangover!
26 March 2010 at 10:32 am
KH,
Alas, I am a noob – like I said, only a few times. Lack of opportunities and lack of initiative on my part.
26 March 2010 at 10:43 am
Paanaka majjige and kosambari – Classic treat.
26 March 2010 at 2:56 pm
I heard that some parts of the plant ( I think seeds, leaves, resin are all use and have names like bhang, ganja, charas, hashish) are used in drinks during Holi in some parts. In Nepal. it (possibly the resin) is mixed in some sweets. I think that there are two types of toxin in bhang, proportions vary from variety to variety. So the effects also depend on the variety and possibly on the person trying it. I tried it a few times around 1970-71. The first six times, it did not have any effect. Later, time used slow down, and while listening to music one could hear every note, and music sounded better than usual. But I found that I felt depressed the next day and stopped after smoking about 30 times. From what I heard, the effects vary from person to person. There is some speculation that it might have been used in soma.
26 March 2010 at 10:43 pm
sure ptl. i am nityabhoghananda. i bet i can teach that nityananda kid a thing or two about theory and atleast a couple of things more in “experiments”.
you on the otherhand are an incurable nihilist. imho, nihilism is the last recourse of those who realize what is is, but aadre dhairya saalde cannot come to terms with it.
27 March 2010 at 12:44 am
TS,
There is but one reality and Pulikeshi is one of the many believers in cultural materialism. Even the kind of suprasensory, mystical, beyond-words, experience you talk about and experienced momentarily by Gadde Swarup on a bhang trip has to take place within the confines of seemingly inert or waking consciousness. I have long believed that our consciousness, the now and the here, is our only means of negotiating this splendid world, no matter how confusing and frustrating it is. When religion is abandoned and the mind takes the place currently usurped by the notion of God, we will be able to say we have arrived.
Nityabhogaananda aagu, thathwavaadi aagu, hindu, muslim, christanaagu. Enaadaru aagu, ee badukina bandavaala uthpatthi matthu laabhaamshaagalannu thilisuvanthavanaagu.
Didn’t intend to offend you in my previous comment. My apologies.
27 March 2010 at 12:44 pm
@Ptl,
I take that you are a red pill guy
27 March 2010 at 2:15 pm
Dear All,
Honestly the ‘majjige’ looks pretty revolting to me! I will pass. Thank you!
Cutting across religious lines…As the wags in ole Mysore area would say, “Always be seated at the first batch of diners at a Muslim wedding!” :)
27 March 2010 at 3:21 pm
Hey DB,
The principle also applies to all weddings. Especially to “beegara oota”.
28 March 2010 at 12:58 am
MP-Couldn’t contain butting in. Reason why panaka, majjige and kosumbri is served on Ramnavami day as narrated by my granny. When Rama was born the residents of Ayodhya(wherever it was then) were so overjoyed that they almost forgot cooking food for the day. Hence a quick meal of majjige and kosambri which we have aptly picked up south of the vindhyas. Wonder if anyone follows this elsewhere.:). A summetime treat above all.
Others-About the ramblings on all variants of soppu, seems like totally legal in North India. Seen quite a number of bhang shops in Varanasi, Gaya & Prayag. Seen even South India Priests stationed there consuming them. Maybe it appeals to the inner senses. :)