I discovered B.N.Patnaik researching my favourite text of all time , the Mahabharta . He writes in great detail about the Sarala Mahabharat , which is a 15th century Odia version by Sarala Das. It has its own unique retelling . B.N. Patnaik taught linguistics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur (1978-2004). He has another blog in which he generally writes on his interests , this blog was on a AMU seminar . "Talking about the linguistic aspect alone, some fifty years ago, in Odia, potato was called bilaati aalu (potato from England) in coastal Odisha, but now, on account of the popularity of this vegetable it is called just aalu. Interestingly, tomato, which is as popular, is still called bilaati baaigana (brinjal from England) and never just baaigana. There is more to the contrast, but for the moment, let that story remain untold. As for some similarity, both vegetables are still excluded from the kitchen of the traditional temples, and from the discourse of naivedya (food to be offered to the deity) and prasaada (food after the offering) relating to these temples."
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 15:19:44 +0000
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