23.Boiled grains to ..Idlis-II . An update

Manjunath’s recent reference to ‘Origin of Idlis’ points to an article by Vikram Doctor on the ancestry of the now ubiquitous ‘Idli’, one of the healthiest dishes available. He quotes K.T. Achaya who infers that ‘idli’ is a recent introduction to India. However he quotes “Iddalige” mentioned in a Kannada work dated 920 AD (Kavirajamarga?), possibly made out of urad dal batter. According to him similar, urad dal “iddarika” is cited in the Sanskrit work ‘Manasollasa’ (1130AD). Tamil people refer to ‘itali’ only after 17^th century according to Achaya. So, Achay conclude that idli is an imported dish probably from Indonesia, where several fermented dishes are available like kedli (similar to our idli) tempeh, kecap etc.

One thing is certain: Idli in the modern form has evolved over the years. Nobody could have invented it instantaneously. Even today idli is evolving. Mass idli producers in Mangalore are replacing urad dal with yeast producing soft spongy rice idlis that taste different from the urad+rice combination.

The existence of words ‘iddalige’ and ‘iddarika’ in Kannada/Sanskrit literature suggest that this dish already existed in south India before 10 century AD. Of course, it is but natural that the exact combination of the idli of those times may be slightly different, given human tendency for evolving better things over the time. And presence of plethora of traditional steam cooked rice items in Tulunad, employing primitive but artful cups, folders and tubes(‘gunda, kottige, gatti, moode’ etc) fashioned out of natural leafs for pouring in the batter, as described in my earlier posting (No.11) imply that our ancestors contributed a lot to the early ‘research and development’ on idlis. The process of fermentation was also known to them. The traditional “neeruppad”(=watery pickle), now almost getting obsolete, consisted of slices of raw or semi-ripe jack fruit, fermented in saline water stored for prolonged usage as pickles during the rainy days.

However, more details if available on iddalige, iddarika and Indonesian kedli and other similar cousins of idli are welcome!