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Writer's pictureAkanksha Damini Joshi

Idiappam : Chola Kingdom Style


Its morning. And as usual, I am famished, looking forward to the first #pathya (healthy food) of the day. In Ayurveda, healthy eating is considered to be Maha Beshaj, biggest medicine.

So, there was this Vaidya with an amazing sounding name, Lolimbraj, who said even a more amazing thing that we moderns could do well to read, again and again. He says:

“A patient does not require medication if he consumes healthy food (pathya ahara). And, if a patient continues to consume unhealthy food (Apathya Aahar), then also, he does not require medication!”  

Meaning, no medicine can cure, if the eating habits are incorrect.


So, here is me, patiently awaiting my pathya ahara: conducive to the season, the time, my own constitution etc. And then, it arrives.

I take the first bite. Brain is a little shocked, taste buds even more. This was supposed to be salty, how did it become sweet?!

Idiappam. Till this morning, me north indian dilliwali had tasted idiappam only with veg stew, but here it was - Idiappam with sweetened coconut milk! Cautioned of the dissonance between old expectations and present realities, I take the next bite : Sweet, and … YUMM! This was Del-i-ci-ous!


Obviously. For this very pathya has been in existence since at least a 1000 years Plus. KT Achaya, the famous food historian tells us that these idiappams, “thread like extrusions of boiled and mashed rice” were eaten soaked in sweetened coconut milk during Chola Empire ( peaks 9th -13th century CE).

So, with their powerful navy, grand temples, flourishing art and culture, and influence stretching from the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia … the Cholas were enjoying this delicious pathya more than a 1000 years + in this same land where I sit today and eat it.

Kya baat hai! Feels like a full Wow, as a pathya (from path, a way) is supposed to make you feel: it’s good not just for the body, but also for the mind!

Pathya, which is the Aahar-vihar that calms the mind, is beneficial to the body, and provides nutrients; and Apathya, is that which is the opposite of Pathya” - Charak Samhita

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