Handia (Also handi or hadiya) is a

rice beer Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice, traditionally consumed in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Rice wine is made by the fermentation of rice starch that has been converted to sugars. Microbes are the ...

originating from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

, popular in the

Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, Chhattisgarh and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

Etmology

''Handia'' comes from hindi word ''Handi'' means ''earthen pot'' where it was traditionally prepared.

History

Evidence of Fermentation and Alcoholic beverages found in Indus valley civilization during Chalcolithic Period from 3000 BC to 2000 BC in India. In Ancient India, the

Veda upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

s mention a beer-like drink called ''sura''. It was the favourite of the god Indra.

Kautilya Chanakya (Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya o ...

has mentioned two intoxicating beverages made from rice called ''Medaka'' and ''Prasanna''.

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; grc, Μεγασθένης, c. 350 BCE– c. 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but ha ...

, the Greek Ambassador to Maurya Emperor Chandragupta Maurya mentioned about rice beer in his book Indica where he mention Indian make wine from rice instead of barley. He mentioned Indian never drink rice wine except during sacrifice.

Preparation

The making involves the use of ''ranu tablets'', which is essentially a combination of about 20-25 herbs and acts as a fermentor. These ranu tablets help in the preparation of many other

beverages A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies ...

as well. The ''ranu tablets'' are then mixed with boiled rice and left to ferment in earthen pots. The drink is generally ready within a week. It is served cool and has lower alcoholic strength than other

Indian country liquors Desi Daaru ( hi, देसी दारू), also known as Country Liquor or Indian-made Indian liquor (IMIL) is a category of liquor made in the countryside of the Indian subcontinent. They are traditionally prepared by a procedure that has been ...

. Earlier it was only used in marriage function and feast but now it commercialised as people started selling in daily due to economic reasons.

References

External links

{{Indian beverages Fermented drinks Indian alcoholic drinks Bihari cuisine Odia cuisine Jharkhandi cuisine Types of beer Traditional Indian alcoholic beverages Nagpuri culture

Etmology

History

Preparation

See also

References

Further reading

External links