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Alcoholic drinks from Ancient India

Maireya (मैरेय)मैरेय

Maireya is a sweet liquor of ancient India, known only from texts. Kautilya's Arthaśāstra makes it from a sour gruel or a bark decoction of meṣaśṛṅgī mixed with jaggery and pepper or the three fruits of triphalā; the Suśruta Saṃhitā instead describes it as made from grain surā, jaggery spirit and honey. This entry is a reconstruction from those texts.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe Arthaśāstra gives the ingredients but no amounts, times or temperatures for maireya.
Sour gruel, or a decoction of the bark of meṣaśṛṅgī[artha-shama][prasad2006]
Jaggery (guḍa)[artha-shama][prasad2006]
Powdered long pepper and black pepper, or powdered triphalā (Terminalia chebula, T. bellirica and Phyllanthus emblica)The Arthaśāstra says triphalā powder is always added to liquors made with jaggery[artha-shama][prasad2006]
Start
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What changes: A sour gruel or a bark decoction is the base of the liquor

Step 1 of 4
Make a sour gruel or a decoction of meṣaśṛṅgī bark
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: sour gruel or bark decoction.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Maireya is a sweet liquor of ancient India, known only from texts. Kautilya's Arthaśāstra makes it from a sour gruel or a bark decoction of meṣaśṛṅgī mixed with jaggery and pepper or the three fruits of triphalā; the Suśruta Saṃhitā instead describes it as made from grain surā, jaggery spirit and honey. This entry is a reconstruction from those texts.

What makes this one different

Maireya is sweetened with jaggery and flavoured with bark, pepper or triphalā, where prasannā and medaka are grain liquors made with the kiṇva ferment. The Suśruta Saṃhitā's maireya is a blend of grain surā, jaggery spirit and honey, so the name covers two different drinks.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Arthaśāstra maireyaSour gruel or meṣaśṛṅgī bark decoction with jaggery and pepper or triphalā.
  • Suśruta Saṃhitā maireyaMade from paiṣṭī surā (grain liquor), jaggery spirit and honey.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Arthaśāstra (book II, chapter on the superintendent of liquor) lists medaka, prasannā, āsava, ariṣṭa, maireya and madhu. The Suśruta Saṃhitā (Sūtrasthāna 45) says maireya helps with piles and gulma and is heavy to digest.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [artha-shama] Kautilya, Arthashastra, trans. R. Shamasastry 1915, book II, chapter 25 (The Superintendent of Liquor), pp. 168–169; scan on archive.orgarchive
  2. [sushruta] Sushruta Samhita, trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna 1907, vol. 1, Sutrasthanam ch. 45 (Madya varga), p. 461; scan on archive.orgarchive
  3. [prasad2006] Prasad G.P., Bhuyan G.C., Nagalakshmi V. et al. 2006, Contribution of Kautilya Arthasashtra towards dravyaguna, rasasastra and bhaishajyakalpana branches of Ayurvedic medicine, Ancient Science of Life 26(1–2):26–38paper