Myths and Mythology around Biryani

Biryani is probably the most favourite food of India, as it is the most ordered food on apps. Generally, attributed to the Mughalai cuisine, there are enumerable variations of biryani across the Indian subcontinent. Being one of the popular dishes of Indian cuisine, recently it has led to a debate on who owns the legacy of biryani. Whether it was a Mughal invention, a pre-Mughal Turko-Persian influence, or it goes way back to the period of Mahabharata or to the Sangam period of Tamil Nadu. Let us try to understand the arguments and what could be the truth.

Biryani

What is a Pulao and What is a Biryani?

A popular joke on the internet calls Vegetarian Biryani a 'fried pulao'. But that is untrue. Biryani and Pulao are two different preparations, and there can be a Vegetarian Biryani and a Non-vegetarian Pulao. In Pulao, the spices are not as strong as in biryani, and the meat is cooked along with raw rice. In biryani, the meat and the rice are cooked separately and then combined in layers before the final cooking.

Zereshk Polow

Well, this technically makes the Parsi dish of Berry Pulao a form of biryani. While researching Berry Pulao, I came to know that Berry Pulao is indeed a biryani. It came into existence as a blend of Iranian Zereshk Pulao with Bombay-style biryani. Thus, while the preparation is that of a biryani, the name continues to remain ‘Pulao’.

Now that we have established the difference between biryani and pulao, let us go ahead.

Spanish Paella

Origin of Rice & Pulao

Pulao is generally believed to have come from Middle-eastern pilaf, a dish that came into prominence during Abbasid Caliphate and spread across the world. It evolved into pulav in India, and paella in Spain. But, the oldest cultivators of rice have been India and China. Also, the word pulao or pallao is mentioned in the 2nd century CE Sanskrit text Yajnavalkya Smriti and in the Tamil records going back to ancient times. Pallao here is a rice dish cooked with spiced meat. Its etymological origin could be 'Puluka', meaning a ball of rice in Sanskrit. But I could not confirm these facts. The only source I found was 'Indian food – A historical Companion by K.T. Acharya.'

The myth of Iranian origin

Post-Turkic invasions, Persian became the official language of many Indian empires, hence Persian words found their way into Indian vocabulary. The word biryani comes from the short form of the Persian word Birinj Biriyan, meaning fried rice. Biriyan means fried, and hence is a generic term. There has never been a rice dish named biryani in Iran. The Isfahan beryani found in Iran is the only dish with this name, but it is a combination of meat and bread, not rice. Hence, it would be completely wrong to credit Iran for biryani just because the name has a Persian origin.

Isfahan beryani

The Mughal origin claim

Traditionally, rice and meat were prepared in bulk for the Mughal army. According to a legend, it was the Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal, who saw the malnourished men in the Mughal army and ordered the cooks to prepare a new meal which eventually became biryani. This is just a legend; nothing is recorded in history. Biryani requires more time and effort to make than a pulao, which is a one-pot recipe. Why would the military spend so much time on an elaborate recipe. There are many factors that make this folklore unbelievable.

Mumtaz Mahal

But a Mughal-era cookbook ‘Nuskha-i-Shahjahani’ mentions a chapter on ‘Beryan’ or fried recipes. Out of many, there is a dish named Zer Berian-i-Noor Mahali, which fits the precursor to the modern biryani. Here, meat is mixed with ginger, garlic, and salt, and fried in ghee with fried onions. Then it is added to a half-boiled rice, and cooked in a closed lid (dumpukht). Only the meat is above the rice, not below as we make them today. But it is a tertiary source that mentions that the original recipe is not precise.

The Sangam period claim

The earliest mention of a precursor to the pulao is Onnu Soru, mentioned in the ancient Tamil Sangam literature. It was a rice dish prepared with meat and spices and fed to the military warriors. So, it must have been a tradition of feeding the army a rice meat dish that continued till the Mughal period.

Mythological King Nala (representative image)

The Mahabharata origin claim 

In the Mahabharata, there is a story of Nala, a king of the Nishadha kingdom. When he loses his kingdom, he lives anonymously as a cook for another king named Rituparna. He is considered a wonderful chef, but his recipes are not mentioned in this story.

But his recipes get mentioned in a much later text called Paka Darpanam, and this is where we find a link to the biryani. Here, a dish is called ‘mamsodana’ where mamsa means meat and odana means cooked rice. The recipe mentioned in the text is roughly as follows:

Fill the 3/4th part of a vessel with water and heat it. Add 1/4th part with rice and bring it to a boil. Get minced meat and add to it some rock salt and ghee before frying it. Add the fried meat to the boiling rice. Once the water evaporates, add coconut milk and some aromatic ingredients like ketaki flowers (screw pine), Kasturi (musk) and so on. Close the lid and continue to cook till the rice becomes soft.

Here, the meat and rice are fried and cooked separately and then combined under a closed lid. Therefore, it fits the definition of a biryani. But historians place the text of Paka Darpana to the 12th century CE. Hence, it is not as ancient as the Mahabharata, but it is also not as late as the Mughal Empire.

While not the recipe, but the dish of Mamsodana (mentioned as Mamsabhutadana) is also mentioned in the Ramayana, and hence it does have ancient origins. A country that grows rice and eats meat wouldn’t wait for thousands of years for foreigners to introduce them a recipe combining the two.

Biryani with fried onion toppings

The Post-Mughal invention

Most of the Mughalai food of today attributed to the Mughals were not created during the time of the Mughals, but were invented in regional princely courts during the East India Company rule in India. Biryani recipes emerge during this period. It was a result of the patronage of Nawabs and Nizams. An important thing to note is that recipes do not evolve in a linear way, but there are multiple influences at multiple times and in multiple geographies.

Dampukht Biryani Pot with flour insulator

While yoghurt marination has been mentioned in ancient Indian texts, yoghurt marination of meat in biryani can be attributed to the Turkic people, as Ayurveda prohibits the mixing of yoghurt with meat. The dum technology and the toppings of fried onions & dry fruits are most likely a Perso-Mughal influence. Thus, mamsodana with Turko-Mongol and Persian influences could have resulted in modern biryani.

Chillies, potatoes, tomatoes, cashews and many other ingredients came to India from the Portuguese. Thus, these additions to the recipe got us the modern biryani that we consume today.

Hyderabadi Biryani

Kolkata Biryani

Sindhi Biryani

In conclusion, just like how phirini is the modified version of India’s kheer, biryani could have been a modified version of Mamsodana. Just like how Onnu Soru was fed to the Tamil army, biryani could have been a continuation of this practice. And, just like how Gobi Manchurian is attributed to Manchu Chinese but has nothing to do with them. Biryani is an Indian dish with a Persian name, but nothing to do with Persia or Central Asia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Comprehensive Study on Krutaanna Varga with Special Reference to Bhakta Kalpana (Page 79)

Pak Darpana Of Nala by Dr Madhulika, Edited by Jay Ram Yadav – Chaukhamba Orientalia, Varanasi

Indian Food – A Historic Companion by K.T. Acharya (Page 11, 54)

https://www.cntraveller.in/story/from-iran-to-india-the-story-of-mumbais-iconic-berry-pulao/