Fasting, in some form or the other, manifests itself in most religions but the month of Shravan brings with it fasting periods for two major communities. Words like Faraal, Upvaas and Paryushan begin to be bandied about amongst Hindus and Jains. There is an air of anticipation; long explanations are given by the veterans to the uninitiated with detailed descriptions of what to expect, down to the last savory morsel! Dishes like sabudana khichdi (chewy sago and potato mixture flavoured with peanuts) and sabudana vada (deep fried sago balls, crisp on the outside and meltingly soft on the inside) appear at the table as wives and mothers warm up their repertoire of ‘legal’ recipes in anticipation of the coming month of Shravan, for the Gujarati and Maharashtrian communities, and Paryushana, for the Jains.

The month of Shravan is the most auspicious month in the Hindu calendar, because it is full of festivals. Naga-Panchami, on the fifth day in the honour of the Nagas or snake gods and Janmashtami, celebrated as the birth of Krishna, lead up to the Shravan Purnima, the full moon day of the month of Shravan. A number of festivals congregate on this day beginning with Narali Purnima when the ocean is paid homage with offerings of coconuts. This is prominent in Maharashtra as fisher-folk resume their trade from this day. Shravani Purnima is the day on which all Brahmins renew their sacred threads. And then, follows the lovely festival of Raksha Bandhan when a rakhi or amulet is tied round the wrist of brothers by their sisters as a charm for protecting them from evil or harm. Brothers, in turn, promise to protect their sisters.  

The entire month of Shravan is observed as one of fasting, but even for those not fasting, diet dictates that all tamasic or ‘heaty’ foods be avoided, including non-vegetarian food. This is because digestion is considered sluggish during this season, it being in the middle of the monsoon. The most prevalent method of fasting in the Hindu religion has been that of phala ahaar. Charaka and Sushruta, two of the major authors of the Ayurvedas, classified edible plants into seperate groups and the phala varga is that of fruit. The word phala when combined with ahaar, meaning food or diet, also connoting a diet of fruit, has over time, grown to encompass all foods not raised with a plough in contrast to anna or other cultivated foods. This was the traditional diet ascribed to ascetics, hermits and householders who were fasting. What is ‘allowed’ during a fast and what is not is mostly a question of perspective but I thought it would be interesting to see what could be cooked up with the ingredients allowed. The results were interesting, to say the least.

The month of Shravan also coincides with the Jain festival of Paryushana Parva observed by the Jains. Jainism or the Jain religion prides itself on being a non-violent religion. It emphasizes the decree of non-violence to various forms of life, the philosophy of which, as described in a nutshell, is the path of renunciation, atonement for one’s wrongs and the prescription of various tapas or austerities, which are practiced at several levels in order to attain liberation from the bondage of karma. While some asceticisms are a part of daily life and not limited to a special period of time, there are different forms of tapas observed for different occasions. And fasting is a kind of tapas observed by a majority of Jains. There are different kinds of fasts that Jains observe, some subject themselves to severe forms of penance by forsaking food for days together, but the general householders undertake shorter fasts. These may also involve eating only at one sitting, or once a day with prescribed food items consumed after sunrise and before sunset.

Periods of fasting include prayer and worship and other grave practices for eight, sixteen, thirty-one days and so on. One of the eight-day observances known generally as athais, which occur three times a year in the months of Chaitra, Shravan-Bhadarva, Aso or Paryushana Parva, the athai which begins in the month of Shravan, is the most observed as it is celebrated by all Jains together, young and old alike as opposed to other observances which are undertaken by different age groups.

Fasting, has traditionally been a penance, a process of physical, emotional and mental purification and is accompanied by pursuing good thoughts, good words and good deeds. The essence of fasting is to eat simply; the point is to eat only to sustain oneself for the period of fasting. The original concept of fasting entailed a deviation from one’s normal lifestyle and devoting one’s day to introspection. The fasting person was supposed to distance himself from the trivia of day-to-day life and think only about God. As any worldly pleasure would distract him from this purpose, he was supposed to follow a simple routine. Hence, rich food was avoided and a simple diet was taken to sustain the body. The intention was neither to starve the body nor to indulge it but to strike a balance.  

With ritualism coming to the fore, the concept of fasting has undergone immense change. Where one more emphasis was laid on abstaining from food and eating only to sustain oneself, eventually, over time fasting came to mean stretching the limits of endurance. The belief that torturing ones body earned religious merit and instead of a desire for self-enhancement through retrospection, fasting became a religious diktat. Strict rules were laid down for observing fasts on particular days, on festivals or by women. Certain days came to be associated with certain gods and fasts were observed to incur their favour.  

While dishes like sabudana khichdi, sabudana vada  and sabudana kheer are well known across the country, the Gujarati, Maharashtrian and Jain communities have each developed individual fasting cuisines of their own.  In Hinduism, fasting is prompted, mainly, by the seasons, time of day and solar and lunar cycles. In this regard, fasting takes on an aspect of health as well by maintaining the body’s equilibrium with that of the larger forces of the universe.

At it’s simplest, a fast merely entails the avoidance of certain foods for a period of time. Meat eating Hindu factions might avoid meat and vegetarians might give up tamasic foods. A more ‘moderate’ fast might involve imbibing only of liquids. Fasting at its strictest could also be stretched to drinking water, only, for a number of days and requires a cessation of most external activities.

As fasting became stricter and began to be applied as a rule more than a choice, people began to innovate and this gave birth to an entire mélange of fasting dishes and menus for fasting periods. It may be characterised as oxymoron to term them ‘fasting dishes’ but the Indian culinary repertoire is legendary! Look at what they can do with a simple potato! So when any form of cultivated grain or anna is prohibited on fasting days, consumption of foods derived from fruits and fruit products is allowed. The indomitable spirit of the Indian cook comes to the fore as is obvious in examples like kosher substitutes for everything from flour to rice enlisted and a veritable smorgasbord of dishes are laid for the devout to devour!  Alternatives to almost all conventional foods that are prohibited during fasting were designed and well, fasting days came to be regarded as feasting days!  

The Upvas meal that I recall, was a full thali. There was a kadhi made with yoghurt thickened with shingare ka atta or flour made from water chestnusts. This was accompanied by a spicy potato subzi, puris made with rajgeera flour and instead of rice, one serves samwat ke chaawal or parsai ke chaawal. Khandvi made from shingare ka atta and a potato pattice stuffed with coconut and coriander or crushed peanut are widely loved. Dessert constituted of kheer made from sweet potato, shingare ka atta or sabudana.  

What is ‘allowed’ during a fast and what is not is mostly a question of perspective and interpretation.  These being vegetarian communities, non- vegetarian food does not feature in the diet at all but ‘illegal’ foods proscribed in Shravan include cultivated grains that include rice and wheat in all forms, maize, pulses and lentils, root vegetables such as radish, onion and garlic, salt other than rock salt, spices considered ‘heaty’ such as asafoetida, red chillies, fenugreek seeds, turmeric, mustard seeds, etc. ‘illegal’ foods also include other warming ingredients such as jaggery, sesame, betel leaves and vegetable oil. Any leftovers from a prior meal or spoilt food are also forbidden as they are also believed to be tamasic. ‘Legal’ fare, on the other hand, includes milk, select milk products like yoghurt, buttermilk, butter and ghee though cheese is prohibited. Vegetables that can be consumed include gourds like the doodhi and parval, root vegetables like potato, suran, ratalu kand, sweet potato, arbi and spices like the green chilli, coriander, ginger, dried ginger (sonth), lemon, fruits, cumin, dried fruits and nuts, sago, (tapica, sabudana), rock salt (sendha namak), sugar, rock sugar (misri), black pepper, cloves, cardomom, rajgeera, coconut, peanut, shingara, buckwheat, arrowroot among many others. On doing a little research, I found out that a foodgrain called shyamaka, a.k.a. apasthamba, was, in fact, allowed to ascetics.

Specials in a Maharashtrian upvas include dishes like upvas thalipeeth (shallow fried pancakes made of bhajani or fasting flour which is a special mix of vari, sabudana and rajgira flours), sabudana thalipeeth (shallow fried sago and potato pancakes), peanut curry or danyachi aamati (curry made of ground peanuts and flavoured with chillies and cumin),  batatyacha kees (a spicy Maharashtrian take on hash browns), ratalyache kaap (sweet potato slices and sago chips coated in sugar and the creamy sabudana kheer).

Gujarati faraal interpret the same ingredients into their dishes like kutti na dhokla (dhoklas made of buckwheat flour), faraali handvo (a savoury cake made with potatoes and buckwheat flour) faraali pattice, rajgira puris, dahi bateka kela nu raitu (a raita made with bananas and potatoes),  rajgira thepla (a special version of thepla made with Amaranth’s flour), kand na bhajia (yam fritters), suran bateka nu shak (yam and potato subzi). And they have an extensive variety in snacks like bateka no chevdo (patato chivda) bateka ni katri (potato wafers), masallawalla makhana (spiced and fried lotus seeds) guvar ni sukavni (fried guvar that has been dried first. For dessert, one has doodhi halwa, shrikhand and kopra pak (coconut halwa) .

 As aforementioned, Paryushan, the Jain fasting period is one in which the entire family eats a special diet even if it means taking some time off work. Already present diet restrictions like proscription of root vegetables like potatoes, onions and garlic (the eating of which entail killing the plant instead of just taking its fruit since these are roots and tubers), green leafy vegetables (because they might harbour insect life) and sprouted seeds (because they are germinating life) have now become stricter. All vegetables and fruit are set aside for this period and

substitutions are made with foods like Sukveni or dried vegetables like dried kairi (mango) skins, guvarfali (clusterbeans), ker, sangri, kumita (dried berries found in the desserts of Rajasthan). Subzis are also improvised from vadis (spicy sun dried dumplings made from lentil pastes), papads and chickpea flour.  

For those who are fasting, whether for select days, or for the entire period, the end of Paryushana, brings a mini celebration. After due prayers have been offered, those who have fasted for the eight or ten days break their fast with a special meal of liquids. The fast is broken with a selection of flavoured waters eith sweetened with rock sugar to aid digestion in the starved system, or jaggery to alleviate fatigue and anemia. Other variations include the stock from cooking mung beans to revive the system, and the stock from cooked ker or Rajasthani caper berries to balance the system. These are followed by sweetened milk flavoured with saffron to stabilize the system. Those fasting do not touch the food, but are fed by friends and loved ones in the honour of their endurance.