vFish preservation: Washing,
cutting, and sun-drying are performed one by one; dry fishes are then dusted
and mixed up with paste of arum leaf base and finally, round hand-made fish
balls are prepared. In dried fish production, with the cleaned fishes,
Rajbanshis donot mix up salt before keeping them under the sunbeam on dry soil.
They even donot treat these fishes with turmeric or warm them on any tawa
(plate) on stove. In other places, salt and turmeric are used. There the
proportion of salt and turmeric depends upon the nature of the fish variety. In
some cases, fishes are often stored under the dried soil. But here, fishes (washed
and cut) are often but simply sun dried and then dusted to form fish balls with
the help of sticky extract from black arum leaf base; these balls are generally
prepared in monsoons or post-monsoon period; these balls are
cooked as curry or consumed in fried condition. Fish balls are generally termed as sidal.
vPickle production: Green mango,
carambola, tamarind, pine apple and plum could be stored as pickle. Sweet
fruits (even banana) could be fermented and stored as tari, juice of palm and
date or rice alcohol for long. Alcohol is produced from rice, malt, and millet.
These stuffs have to be fermented at cold place in earthern or wooden pots or
bucket with water. Foam comes out and alcohol is produced.
vPreparation of Gur [the unsaturated
sweet solid fragranced crystal of date-palm juice]: Experienced peoples are
engaged in collection of the juice under some supervision. Or they on their own
responsibility could collect the sweet juice coming out of the cut channels in
the trunk portion into the earthen pot bound tightly with rope at the cut
portion. This collection is specifically done in winter season. In very early
morning the pots filled up with fresh date juice. After this collection
process; the juice is heated in a pottery on earthen stove; with the help of
dried date leaves, this mixture is continuously serrated in mild flame for long
time under thorough observation; and ultimately, the mixture is poured on a
clothed pot to let it be cool down and form a sweet hard cake. The juice
gradually starts loosing its moisture, becomes crystallized and saturated with
a specific taste. Lack of experience regarding preparation of this gur can
bring bitterness in it. It is a day long process under the bright sun in the
clear sky and only at the late afternoon, the cluster is poured off and
throughout the night kept for cooling. Here, the dried debt leaves are often
used as the fuel. Actually the Rajbanshis do not prepare sweet milk items
themselves, but depend on the Bengali sweet makers. Gur for them
is right alternative of milk made sweets. This is also used to give sweetness in milk
products.
vTari preparation: Tari is produced
from freshly taken juice of palm in the same process as the date-palm juice is
collected. The fresh juice is kept freely to be fermented and the alcoholic
substance of Tari is thus produced. Palm fruits are available in the season of
spring. Fruit is crush to get in the fibrous pulp of it which is then extracted
by hand into juice. This yellow juice with milk and even cocomut or coconut
milk is consumer as mixture. Sometimes, this juice mixture is heated to make it
a condenced texture. That is called as taal kheer. This emulsion is often fried
in cooking oil and these small pancakes or boras are kept air tight in jar.
vVapa preparation [rice cake]: Some
Rajbanshi women make a delicious dish with rice dust. This is called as the
Vapa Pitha which is nothing but one type of soft fluffy rice cake. On a dice
with a single hole placed at the mouth of a Handi (earthen pot) on fire
(earthen stove) with boiling water inside, they put the rice dust (prepared in
husking machine) packed in a piece for two to three minutes. In this way, the
dust is baked on steam and turns into the pancake. This is then served with a
small crystal of gur. The Vapa used to be prepared at night time or early
morning and the women preparing it would go out to barter their produce in
exchange of some rice. They use this rice to produce Vapa again for the next
day from the collected rice and the extra rice left aside would feed her
family. One kind of distribution, barter and cash transaction has been
developed. Regular supply of food to the less prosperous or non-agriculturist
families is there beyond the periphery of modern cash system and monetary
economy. Now, this seasonal food item for late spring and winter is largely produced in post-harvest leisure
time from husked rice. Thrashing, winnowing, stock eaising, husking and rice
cake preparation are general works of the womenfolk. Rice cakes are now sold in
market through monetary transaction.
vRice grain preparation: Rajbanshis
either keep the coated rice in water for the whole night or heat in regulated
flame to some extent; both types are then husked to get uncoated rice grains.
The rice produced by water treatment of the paddy grains is little bit thinner
and softer. It is called atop variety. This thin rice is easy to cook, used in
festivals and its dust emulsion is taken for painting the floor with designs.
Rice is again soaked with water and stored in big bamboo thatched baskets. Such
buskets are plastered with dung that in dry condition serve as hard coat. Cow
dung in water emulsion with rice seed coats is a natural pluster that is used
on earthen walls and floors and inner and outer courtyard. Neem leaves in dry condition
are put into these buckets full of rice or paddy to set free from harmful
insects. Neem or Azadirechta is good pesticide.
vTelani preparation [water left
after collecting the boiled rice]: It is used in wash treatment of old clothes.
Rajbanshis also consume the telani with adding some salt in it to taste; they
consider telani as the most important type of nutritious food good for health.
vChalvaja preparation [one type of
fried uncooked non-boiled rice]: Rajbanshis take fried uncooked (non-boiled) rice
with tea in the early morning in their breakfast before getting involved in
their daily work.
vPanta bhat preparation [salted
rice]: The cooked rice or Kaon millet is kept in water throughout the night and
only when the sun appears to arise the Rajbanshis do their breakfast with this
watery rice after putting a pinch of salt in it (called as panta bhat).
vRajbanshis prefer rice cultivation
the most. The rice varieties they have preferred the most are Kukra or
Kukurjali, White or Sada Nunia, Black or Kalo Nunia, Tulaipanji, Swarna,
Kalam, Payejam, Mala, Dharial and so
on. Black Nunia paddy is black in texture and because of that when the crops
are full grown, the field is looking black and the air is filled up with a
special fragrance. Grains of Black Nunia are relatively small, but very much
tasty; it is sold in market in higher price level than the hybrid varieties and
it has a low yield. White Nunia is also there, their seed coat color is as
usual non-black and hence golden. Rajbanshis are concerned about high
nutritious value of Nunia rice. A small quantity of Nunia rice can fill up the belly for
the whole day. A handful of Nunia paddy after decoating the paddy seedcoats
could provide ample amount of cooked rice. Swarna gives a greater yield (about
18-20 mon/ bigha), while the lowest is documented in case of Kalam (8-10 mon/
bigha). But Kalam is the rice with elongated grains of thin size and also good
in taste. Kaon or Kamon is a variety of millet with smallest grain size. Being
extremely minute, Kaon looks like mustard, but it is not any kind of rapeseed.
It is not too tasty as paddy. Mala ripens most quickly. Kaon grows up
reluctantly in the natural environment of North Bengal. Usually the Rajbanshis
eat boiled Kamon or Kaon. It is consumed in hotchpotch (khichuri). It is also
cultivated in the hill areas or at foothill pockets by other ethnic groups.
Kaon and rice varieties are stored in dry condition, sold in market and
consumed by the people.
vAn important variety of paddy,
Dharial, contains grains with pressed shape and therefore used exclusively in
production of the preserved rice products (muri- puffed rice; chira- bitten
rice; khoi- pressed rice).
oPreparation of chira or chura
(bitten rice): Coated rice is here put in water for the whole night or for some
days so that the seed coat would be loosened; then they heat the same in mild
temperature for long but under strict observation; control the flame and
lastly, husk it in husking machine (Chham) with the help of a wooden beam
(gayen) continuously and only then some kind of pressed rice or chura is
produced. This chura is then left to be sun-dried for some
days and in this way could be preserved for a long period. Here, the flame of
fire and time of flaming are both different from that in the preparation of
simple uncoated rice from paddy. The softened seed coat here transforms into
the dust and is used as fodder. The pressed processed rice, chura, is usually
served with card (dahi). Dahi-chura is one of the most delicious food items to
the Rajbanshis.
oPreparation of muri (puffed rice):
Rajbanshis have learnt the preparation procedure of puffed rice, muri, from the
immigrant Bengali and the other Rajbanshi fellows emigrated from Bangladesh
(now well overlapped with one another). Basically, Bangladesh is a rice bowl.
Muri preparation needs an oven. The uncoated and uncooked rice is kept in
salted water for the whole night or two to make it softened and diffuse the
salt particles into the grains. Then on the open-air earthen stove, these rice
particles after this salt treatment in the presence of sand and controlled fire
is baked for several times. These rice particles in the earthen handi (pot)
with heated sand are constantly stirred with jute sticks. In this way, salted
rice becomes heated, softened, aired and puffed. Some people like salted muri
where quantity of the soluble salt applied is higher. After this preparation,
the muri has to be winnowed from dry heated sand by sieve (chaluni) or simply
be shaking the mixture in a koola. This Koola is a semi-circular utensil made
up of thatched bamboo strips with concave floor and deeper
inside. There the muri has to taken atop and be shaken by hand. So, the muri
particles heavier would go to the deeper end and the sand dust and other
unwanted light weight particles to the other outside end.
oPreparation of khoi (pressed rice):
Old paddy is often heated in sand with continuous stirring by jute stick on
high flame and eventually the crunchy soft rice grains are jumped out of the
paddy seed coats. This white colored food item (Khoi) is another form of rice
preservation. This is a type of pop. We can say it as pop-rice.
v Preparation of bori (pulse cake):
Pulse-dust of maskalai or thakurkalai or khesari is preserved after it is
thickly mixed up with water and then sun dried in the form of small cakes over
a white cloth. Sun-drying can continue for three to four days. Pulse is a
winter crop whose cultivation begins at late-spring when temperature is being
decreased and air still contains moisture. It is harvested in autumn and early
summer. Pulse grains are dusted in husking machine. The residue is a good
fodder for cattle and poultry. Pulse is a mitrogen fixing plant. Pulse grain
can be stored for seasons like the rice. Pulse grains can be baked and that is
termed as dalmut. This dalmut is mixed up with bhujia, nuts and coconut and in
tjis way, a dry food chanachur is produced. But, Rajbanshi women are the most
familier with making bodi or bori from pulse dust emulsion. They often add jira
spice and pulp of bottle gourd (chalkumra or panikumra) in the same before
drying them in small cakes.
vPreparation of alu bhaja (potato
chips): Potato chips are also manufactured by the Rajbanshi folk community; for
this, they usually give the sliced potato chips sun-treatment, often make them
salted (salt is a natural preservative) and before frying them in cooking oil,
some even add the dry chips into the vinegar for few minutes so as to make
these crunchy. Potato is growing in large amount in North
Bengal highlands with multiple harvests in the same season. Potato is basically
a winter crop and bulbs are grown underground. Wild potato, airy potato and
spiny potato are also there. Potato can be propagated in mixed cultivation.
There are indigenous varities from Bhutan. Potato leaf is also consumed as
vegetable. Potato buds from the bulbs are cut off and stored in dry condition
for the next season. Potato however now in growing throughout the year. Potato
is a perishable product. So, potato can be preserved to some extent in the form
of chips.
v Preservation of pumpkin: Pulp of
pumpkin or bottle gourd is preserved in form of jelly and sauce. They are
extracted, mixed up with water, given a texture of lei, added to sugar, and in
this way, sweet jelly is manufactured. Vinegar is often added to this. Watering
this product brings in a kind of sauce by adding a few squeezed tomato and hot
spices (especially chilli). This emulsion has to be stirred up in a big pot
under constant heating. Sometimes, mildly boiled and softened pieces of pumpkin
are preserved in condenced sugary water emulsion with vinegar and chilli.
Pumpkin cakes are then sun dried. This type of preservation is called murabba.
Excess ripened pumpkin or bottle gourd are actually good for these jelly, sauce
and murabba. Papaya can also be preserved in jelly form.
vPreservation of milk [in the form
of card or dahi]: Card is the most auspicious item for any kind of ceremony. In
order to prepare card, the Rajbanshis keep fresh milk in an earthen pot for
several days in a clean, dust-free, cool dark room (with earthen wall and roof
made by jute sticks and straw acting like a natural cooler or heat resistant
chamber); they could also hang the pot from the beams of the roof; and after
some days, the card is formed due to the activity of the bacteria and then they
pull it down and intake with salt. They do not put any lime extract or sour fruit substance
in it like the Bengalis do. Nor they even heat old milk on mild temperature.
Rajbanshis for the festival purpose mix some more milk within the card and put
sugar on it and stir it continuously while heating; and in this way, sweet card
is prepared. Rajbanshis are not usual with the use of milk, but fond of card.
vPreparation of ghee (unsaturated
fat from milk): Rajbanshis also prepare unsaturated fat from milk called ghee.
They warm the milk and take off the upper creamy layer. This collected creamy
substance is then again stirred vigorously and a sticky matter is developed. This
sticky amount is then warmed up and the upper yellowish unsaturated fatty layer
therefore formed is taken out as ghee.
vPreparation of chhana: Addition of
lime juice or tamarind extract into mildly warm milk reacts with the milk and
forms an easily digestible clumsy clustered white mass, chhana, nutritious and
helpful in cooling the body temperature.
vVarious seed are sun dried and
stored in basket or pot by covering the mouth with cloth. These seeds in many
cases were fried with sand in an earthen pot. In case of bitterness, they are
mildly boiled and again dried. They are winnowed and beaten or grinded to make
their dust. Such treatment we can see with jack fruit seed (kathal), amla
(malaki) fruit without the seed and with a sour taste, tamarind seed (tentul),
corn seeds (makoi), and so forth.
vRapeseeds like sarisha, tishi and
til fruits are first harvested, thrashed and the oil is extracted from them.
The oil is stired in high neck earthen pots with a knob. Such pot is called as
pechi. Oil is used in curry. However, Rajbanshis usually prefer food in boiled
and baked condition. The waste product of the rapeseeds is used as cattle feed
and manure (khol or khoil) served with seed coats (tush) and waste products
after winnowing (bhusi).
vMany vegetables are there that are
pieced into chips, baked in mild heat and then fried in oil. This serves for
preservation for a short period for two to three days. These fried chips are to
be stored air tight.
vPickles: The vegetables and fruits
are here to be cur into pieces and after removal of the seed portion and fruit
coat dried in the sun for a week. Then salt, turmeric, oil, chilli, ginger and
some other spices are added to this. Pickles may be of chilli itself. Plum
(buguri) is often preserved as pickle for whole of the year.
vFruit coats of orange can also be
preserved after sun dry. But this is not a usual practice of the Rajbanshis.
Orange fruit coat can be used in bakery in producing cakes.
vVarious spices like cassia and
curry leaves (tejpata and karipata) are grown up in near the Rajbanshi habitat
and they are simply sun dried. They are put in curry to add taste.
vMango and banana are perishable
fruits with pulp. They are often collected in immature condition. They then put
in a closed kiln underground with alternative layers of dry paddy straw burning
into fume. The system underground is covered up by soil at the top layer. But
there is a whole and from that through a blow pipe air is forcefully passed
into the chamber. In this way, crops are ripened. So, we can preserve our
fruits in green and in time bake them into ripened condition.
vMango pulp: Mango juice is
extracted from ripened fruits and dried under the sun for 2-3 days. A thin
layer is thus formed and on that layer some extra juice is added and sun dried.
This layer after layer formation is a constant and lengthy process. As a
result, a thick layer is produced. This preserved form of mango bar is known as
amsatta. People of Malda in North Bengal where many mango gardens are there are
involved in producing mango bar. Green mangos are converted into pickles.
Mango tree needs cow dung manure not at its base but in circular modes at its
shade. Other organic manure and water are to be added in these circles with
time intervals. In these circles, pineapples are often propagated. Pineapple
juice, pickles and manure are other productions from mango-pineapple system.
Today, Rajbanshis are propagating pineapples in large scale.
vRajbanshis also know preservation
of non-food items like hard shell of fruit coast, jute fiber, jute stick,
bamboo and cane items, wooden crafts, rain teak (shrish), rubber, mulberry,
silk cotton (shimul), silk (tasar), and lac (lacca). They sell the skin of
their dead animals from where leather products have been manufactured. They
know medicinal benefit of so many plants and often stored their dried liaves,
flowers, seeds, fruits, barks and roots with them. Various underground food
substances can be kept for some days without any decaying.
Alternative sources of food and
non-food items
Lichens, mushrooms, pork, toad, mud
fishes, crabs, and snails are seldom considered as food items during natural
calamities and scarcity/acute food shortage. Snails they cooked with pulses
boiled alive and then suck the juicy portion from inside the shell directly to
the throat. They believed in its high protein value without any the scientific
evidence and strange! They were all correct. They were the Bengalis who at a
time avoided the Rajbanshis for this type of food practice and as a result of
this; they gradually shed off this food item from their meal list. Lizard,
leech, green leech, fly, ant, spider, ant-like eight feet spider, big spiders
without any net formation, large garden snails,
apple snails, earth warm and centipede are other components of the garden.
Ducks control the excess amount of snails in the pond eco-system. Snails are of
three types: apple snails (harmful for the gardening), small snail Nautilus
(consumed by man) and mussel (which is actually not a snail). Triton shell
(shankh) is used as a musical instrument and also ornaments (bangle) are
produced of it. Besides Toad, there are frog and flying frog also in the region
of North Bengal.Often, snail, snail consumption, use
of snail shells for production of lime, use of lime in preparation of ponds for
fishing, consumption of lime either with only tobacco or with betel leaf anf
nut have built a relationship among themselves. The trade of betel nut – betel
leaf – lime – paddy – snail shell – snail through barter system has become very
crucial here. Here, the snail collector, the fishermen, the lime producer, the
paddy grower, betel leaf grower and the betel nut raisers are equally
important. Potters in one hand provide the essential earthen pots and the crop
raisers the straw as fuel source to the lime producer.
Curd that is considered to be a main
element necessary in any religious or social festival of the Rajbanshi
community (cow meat is not taken by the Hindus as it is sacred in Hindu
religion); boar, hen, duck and grey hen are eaten also. The bear (Ursidae sp.),
wild boar (Sus scrofa) and monkeys (Macaca spp.) of different kinds, like
capped langur (Lemuroidac sp.) are found in this area of North Bengal. Fox,
wild dogs, tigers, deer, bison, wild pig and gharial type of fish-eating
crocodile are rapidly decreasing in number or have completely lost from the
bio-diversity of the North Bengal. In nearby forest areas, animals like rabbit,
squirrel, bat, chamchika, rat, mole, deer, macaque, bison, tiger, leopard, wild
cat, wild boar, elephant, wild dog, fox, civet, water cat and black bear could be found. In
old days, beating drums and bugle made up of bison or deer horn are used to
call all the villagers in the common meeting place. Rajbanshis generally avoid
the consumption of tortoise or its egg [probably due to their origin in Kashyap
clan; Kashyap was the name of a Wise Man, literally meaning ‘The Tortoise’ in
Sanskrit. Rajbanshis, during the period of availability of wood, used to
prepare their wooden house on wooden trunks. The ladder (with or without wooden
handled) was also there; it might be temporary or permanent in nature. That
type of housing was basically in order to protect themselves from heavy flood
and dampness in the soil. Many tribal communities of North Bengal are still
living in such houses and they set up piggery under the house. On later days,
pig cultivation was reduced and pigs were fed vegetables and underground foods
like potato and yam. Pork, sheep, and pigeon were also highly favored by them.
These items were actually associated with the blood sacrifice in their
religious ceremonies, other social festivals and various types of
magico-religious performances of the Rajbanshi social fold. Often when a full
grown goat is cut, every family of the village or lineage or among the neighbors,
the meat was served; the major share goes to the actual owner of the goat. That
owner had also the right to sell the skin, bone, horn and head of the goat to
the outside market.
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