The Pungent Legacy: How Hing was used in Mughal India

Asafoetida has been an essential element of the Indian Cuisine for ages. Asafoetida also known as hing, is a dried latex exuded from the rhizome or taproot of several species of Ferula ( namely Ferula asafoetida, F. narthex, and F.galbaniflua ), which are perennial herbs of the carrot family. The term ‘hingu’ occurs in the early Buddhist text Mahävagga of Vinaya Pitaka along with the Sanskrit Dharmasutras, and the term bälhika associated with asafoetida in the Kashyapa Samhita reflects its import from Afghanistan. Asafoetida derives its name from ( Assa means resin in Persian while foetida means pungent in Latin), popularly known as the le merdu in France ( Devil’s Dung ). Asafoetida was also known to the Romans as Syrian or Iranian silphium but has restricted use due to its pungent smell. In India Hing is widely used by orthodox Hindus and Jains as a substitute for garlic although it is mainly produced in Afghanistan. 

 Parts of an asafoetida plant.

The first references to the Asafoetida is found in the Buddhist text Mahävagga of Vinaya Pitaka along with the Sanskrit Dharmasutras and its use as condiment. Furthermore, The Manasollasa, a 12th-century book covering a wide range of subjects written by King Somesvara II, a South Indian king, made extensive mention of the use of asafoetida. Apart from that Charak Samhita, mentions “to eat safely “. Meat should be cooked with ghee, yogurts, sour rice gruels, sour fruit (pomegranate, Indian gooseberry), and pungent spices, such as black pepper and asafoetida. Therefore it is safe to say the usage of asafoetida in India before the advent of the Mughals

 

Hing in the Mughal kitchens

 

Asafoetida forms an essential part of Mughal cuisine to invoke flavouring in Delicacies  .  Abul Fazl wrote in his Ain I Akbari that his Emperor Akbar wrote to a high-ranking minister, that asafoetida was used in the Mughal kitchens. In his chronicle, Abu’l-Fazl lists a few dishes that contain asafoetida. They were vegetarian dishes, called sufiyana, meant for the emperor’s days of abstinence from meat. They included pahit, lentils cooked with ghee, ginger, cumin seeds, asafoetida, badinjan made from rice, ghi, onions, ginger, and lime juice, pepper and coriander seed along with cloves, cardamoms. There is also the mention of a Mughal dish named Roghan Josh ( “Roughan” means “oil or ghee” in Persian, while in Urdu, it means “brown or red” and “Josh” (jus) usually refers “to braise” or “stew”) where asafoetida is used to flavor the dried flowers of the cockscomb along with other spices like methi, ginger and saunf. 

A banquet including roast goose given for Babur by the Mirzas

Hing in regional literatures during the Mughal times

 

Similarly, Hing mention can also be  found in regional literatures.  Like the famous Gujrathi work Varanaka Samuchaya written in CE 1520s, provides  an extensive list of items where asafoetida is used like the – Rice items are numerous which includes several ‘shali rice’ (maha, pancha, pilli, rati and thatia), the curd-rice preparation and karambho flavoured with camphor, cardamom, rai, jeera, green ginger and asafoetida. Apart from the common dhals are listed peas and vali (hyacinth bean), and a pulse-based kadhi were also flavored with asafoetida.

 

The great work of Ayurveda dietetics Ksemakutuhalam written in Sanskrit by Ksemacarma in the 16th century also gives us the references of Asafoetida about the cooking of Aubergines. He tells us that the flesh of the green aubergine is dipped in asafoetida-flavored mustard oil and black pepper; fried in and cooked in a spice mixture consisting of black pepper, asafoetida, and buttermilk are very beneficial for health. Furthermore, he tells us about a spice mixture called vesavaara (which in Ayurvedic texts means a spiced dish of minced meat) – a blend of asafoetida, fresh ginger, cumin seeds, black pepper, turmeric, and coriander seeds. In addition to this in another food item – Puri, a puffy bread made of chickpea and wheat flour, asafoetida is used as a flavouring agent along with ajwain and cloves.

 Puri a popular recipe where asafoetida ( hing ) is used.

Furthermore, Nimatnama-i-Nasiruddin-Shahi (Book of Delicacies of Nasir-ud-Din Shah of Malwa Sultanate ) written during the early half of the sixteenth Century also refers to the use of Asafoetida is used as the flavoring agent in stews where vegetables fried with oil soluble asafoetida used to make the stews. Besides the mention of asafoetida can also be found in a few dishes called Ganvari or Gharib, which means rustic or poor man’s food. An example of such food is green vegetables boiled in water or dal, flavored with vegetable oil, asafoetida ginger, onions, and black pepper, and served with millet bread.

Preparation of a hawla in Ni’matnama 

 

Usage of Hing In South India during the Mughal times

 

Asafoetida is also used in South India. A snack called Sandige which is still made in Karnataka,  especially during the rainy season where – the rice gruel was shaped into balls, dried in the sun, and  then spiced with cassia extract, crushed barley, sesame seeds, urad dal, asafoetida, and turmeric powder and finally they were deep fried and they grow into sizable balls,. Asfoetida is also used to make idlis where – A paste of crushed urad dal soaked in water removed from yogurt and spiced with asafoetida, cumin seeds, coriander, and black pepper and asafoetida . Gurulinga Desika in his Linga Purana written in 1594 CE talks about attaining pleasure by eating different forms of melögara where asafoetida is used and which is prepared by using mung dhål, urad dhal, fresh chana, thuvar dhål or avarai beans were first cooked with sesame seeds, then cooked again with greens. drumstick, chakota (grapefruit), salt, and coconut gratings. and finally mixed with ghee and tempered with asafoetida and thick milk. 

Medical Relevance of Hing

 

Medicinally, asafoetida is something of a cure-all as  Dioscorides, the Greek physician noted and praised it  as both a sedative and a stimulant, though in the former capacity, it was often mixed with opium. In traditional Indian medicine, it was prescribed as an abortifacient. It is also said that asafoetida prevents flatulence and acts as a cure for respiratory ailments. The famous physician Ibn Sina advised it for treating indigestion in the early 11th century. Furthermore, it is also said the court singers of Agra and Delhi reportedly ate asafoetida to improve their voices: They would wake before dawn, eat a spoonful of it with butter, and go down to the banks of the river to practice their art at sunrise. 

Asafoetida in a dusted form

Hing in Foreign accounts 

 

We also get references of Hing from Foreign accounts written during the Mughal times like  in 1563 when Gracias De Orta wrote his famous book Colóquios dos simples e drogas . . . da India (Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India, he writes about asafoetida :

 

“The thing most used throughout India, all parts of it, is Ass-Fetida, as well as for medicine as in cookery. A great quantity is used, for every Gentio [Hindu] who is able to get the means of buying it will buy it to flavor his food. The rich eat much of it . . . and he who imitates Pythagoras [a vegetarian]. They flavor the vegetables they eat with it; first rubbing the pan with it, and then using it as seasoning with everything they eat . . . The Moors [Muslims] eat it, but in smaller quantity and only as a medicine.”

 

De Orta further goes on to say that while to him asafoetida has the nastiest smell in the world, the vegetables seasoned with it do not taste bad.

 

Hing blooms with a garlicky yet oniony flavor when heated, working as a flavor enhancer in recipes. John Fryer in his book New Account of East India and Persia (1672-81 CE) wrote about the extensive use of the asafoetida in Eastern India and first pointed out the difference in properties between the less-aromatic, water-soluble ‘hingu’ and the highly aromatic oil-soluble ‘hingra’ from a different tree species. Furthermore, Christoforas Acora, writing in 1578 CE , catalogues among other information the various kinds of asafoetida imported into India from Afghanistan.

Conclusion 

In the Ain I Akbari written by Abul Fazl, the price of asafoetida is around 2 dams which is quite cheap. There are also references to the brisk trade of asafoetida during the reign of Shah Jahan as historian S. N Mahiddaru points out. Furthermore even in the waning days of the Mughal times in the  CE 1750s Āzād Bilgrāmī, writing on the Indian diet containing asafoetida irrespective of whether they were rich or poor included dāl-i tūr (split pigeon pulse) to which they added little to no oil or ghee .along with it they added red chilies, asafoetida, and turmeric. to all their dishes.

Hing usage in modern times can be understood from the words of Vikram Sunderam, a James Beard Award winner and chef at the Washington, D.C  “Hing is a very interesting spice, but it has to be used in the right quantity,” he cautions. “Even a little bit too much overpowers the whole dish, makes it just taste bitter.” Therefore it can be said that asafoetida comprises an integral part of the Indian cuisine and is used as a flavouring agent not just in North India but also in South India and is valued for its medicinal properties by Indians and foreigners alike.

 

References 

 

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8. O’Connell, John (2015). The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary. Profile.

 

9. Saudi Aramco World. “Devil’s Dung: The World’s Smelliest Spice.” https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200904/devil.s.dung-the.world.s.smelliest.spice.htm. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023.

 

10. Vaidyanathan, Sharmila. “The Curious Case of Asafoetida.”

 

11. Sen, Colleen Taylor (2014). Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India. Reaktion Books.

 

12. Sikka, Marut (2015). Indian Flavours. Roli Books Private, Limited.

 

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