Chola Indian Roots of Southeast Asian Cuisine

The Chola dynasty ruled south India for over 1,500 years from 300BC to 1279. The Cholas is one of the longest ruling dynasties in human history. During its heyday, the Chola empire was an economic, political and cultural powerhouse in South India and Southeast Asia.

Pongal

Why should we be interested in mediaeval Indian cuisine from the Chola era?

Because, it was during this period that the Indianisation of the Malay archipelago and mainland Southeast Asia took root. The Cholas not only laid the economic, social, political, cultural, and religious (Hindu) foundations of Southeast Asia, our (e.g. Malay, Khmer, Vietnamese) cuisine at its most fundamental level is also Chola influenced.

However, the Chola roots of our cuisine is not widely known.

The Chola empire originated in the Kaveri River valley of South India.

The Cholas' oldest capital was at today's Tiruchirappalli city along the Kaveri River in Tamil Naidu state of India.

The Chola was an agricultural and sea trading empire with great sea power - the best master shipbuilders and navigators of their time. Their merchant / naval fleet reached across the Indian ocean to Southeast Asia and China.

At its height in 1030, the Chola empire domain and influence stretched from today's Kerala state, south to Sri Lanka, east to Tamil Naidu state, north to the Ganges River in Bengal, and further east to the kingdoms of maritime Southeast Asia (as far east as Cebu, Philippines).

Song Dynasty (960–1279) records tell of a Chola mission to China in 1077. The Chola merchants took "81,800 strings of copper coins in exchange for articles of tributes, including glass articles, and spices".

The Cholas were Hindus and their principal deity was Lord Shiva, the father of the universe and most divine of Hindu gods. The Cholas were, however, tolerant of other beliefs - for example, they allowed Buddhism to spread within their empire (such as taking root in today's Sri Lanka).

Chola temples were centres of worship and also of scholarship. Students study the shastras (precepts of technical knowledge), vedas (scriptures), language, etc., at the temples.

The main source of Chola cuisine is Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், caṅka ilakkiyam), the earliest known literature of South India and historically known as "the poetry of the noble ones". Most historians date Sangam literature from 300 BC to 300 AD i.e. during the early Chola period.

The main themes of Sangam literature are love, valour and eulogies to kings and royals for their exploits / achievements. Sangam literature contains references to food which give us insights into the cuisine of the Cholas (that came to Southeast Asia).

What did the Cholas eat?

Their staple grains, beans, nuts and pulses were millet, rice, broad beans, peanut, black eye peas (cow pea or karamani), black gram, lentil, etc.

Meats including ram, boar, pig, deer, monitor lizard, iguana, elephant, porcupine, pelican, etc.

Spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, cassia bark and leaves, cumin, turmeric, coriander, pepper, star anise, kalpasi (black stone flower), curry leaves, tamarind, ginger, etc. Cloves, nutmeg, jamun, etc., were imported from the Malay archipelago. (The Cholas did not use onion and garlic in their food.)

Vegetables and fruits such as lime, gooseberry, shallot, betel nut and leaves, banana, brinjal (eggplant), moringa, jackfruit, mango, dates, spinach, bamboo shoot, yam, coconut, etc.

Sweeteners like honey, sugarcane and jaggery.

Dairy products from buffalo such as milk, yogurt and ghee. Milk-based desserts like payasam (kheer).

Beverage like toddy (coconut flower sap wine).

Chola dishes include appam, dosas (thosai), pongal, idli, idiyappam, dahi chawal (curd rice), kari churo (mutton / beef / chicken rice), chatti churo, pulihora, paniyaram, perunchuro, tamarind rice, eral milagu varuval (prawn fried with pepper), aur vetrali chicken (betel leaf chicken), Mayavaram mutton curry, curries made with lentils and vegetables.

Food preparation techniques like basting, grilling, smoking and fermenting.

The Chola learnt cooking by steaming from Southeast Asians who in turned learnt the technique from the Chinese.

Dominant flavours of Chola cuisine include sour, tangy (e.g. tamarind), sweet (e.g. honey, rice, milk, etc), hot spicy (e.g. pepper), aromatic (e.g. curry leaves, spices like cinnamon, cloves, etc).

(It was nearly 300 years after the Chola dynasty ended that the Portuguese brought chili pepper to Calicut, Kerala from their central American colonies.)

The city of Madurai in Tamil Naidu state of India is considered the food capital of the Tamil world.

The Chola dynasty passed nearly 750 years ago (in 1279). To put it in perspective, the Cholas were gone even before the emergence of the kingdom of Singapura in 1299.

Po Nagar Hindu temple in Nha Trang, Viet Nam built between 600 - 1100

But, the Chola legacy lives on in the grand Hindu temples in South India and Southeast Asia. Less obvious, less mentioned but equally important, in my opinion, is the enduring legacy of Chola cuisine in Southeast Asian food. Chola legacy in modern Southeast Asian cuisine could provide us insights into the world between mediaeval India and China that durable artefacts and monuments cannot.

Written by Tony Boey on 23 Jul 2023