Gleanings from Ancient Wisdom - Betel nuts- quid
In India, betel plays an important role since ancient times. It is valued for its medicinal properties.
Manasollasa written by king Someshwara describes pancha sugandha as a Thambula with five aromatic ingredients, namely the cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace and camphor, a truly royal concoction. Apart from its significance in stimulating saliva and gastric flow after a meal, Paan is also regarded as an auspicious symbol of hospitality and was offered as a moral and even legal commitment when an agreement was drawn up. The goddess Lakshmi is believed to reside in the forepart of the betel leaf, Jyeshtha ( the older sister of Lakshmi and she is the remover of misfortue ) at the back, the goddess of speech on the right, Parvati on the
left, Vishnu inside, the Moon outside, Shiva in all the edges and Manmatha ( Cupid ) everywhere; Yama, the lord of death resides in the stalk, which is therefore pinched away and discarded before the leaf is used ( Shivatattvaratnakara).
The quid kulpavida was made up of 10-12 betel leaves and must have been very large, in addition to the usual filling of betel nuts, slaked lime, and kattha, it also contained cardamom,nutmeg, almonds, pistachio and coconut shreds.
Muslims when they came to India, quickly took to chewing paan. Ibn battuta ( fourteenth century CE ) describes how it was served in the Delhi Sultanate at the end of elaborate palace meals.
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