Paan, chewing beetle nut....the origin

Pan chewing beetle nut....the origin

Markendaya the sage had his Ashram near Varanasi. This is a history of more than 2 to 3 thousand years old. Mahabharat was yet to be written by Vyas muni. As we all know those were the days when people used to survive by eating fruits, flowers etc. Preparation of rice and roti were yet to be introduced as staple diet. That was the time when best of the brains were used to to find fruits , leaves and flowers which human being can eat without any harm. There used to be scouts going round and spotting eatable trees and shrubs. Back to Markendya he was one of those sages who used to encourage his disciple to explore the surroundings for food.The general logic at that time was whatever animals can eat human being can also eat. Thus we find many of the tribals in today's world  survive by eating grass. Monkeys had been useful then because they will be tasting the fruits growing up in trees, human being been derivative of monkeys so whatever they ate suited us. Thus edible fruits were discovered by the volunteers by following the eating habits of animals,birds, fish etc.Enough of background and now let us come to pan and it's origin. Shrishanu ,disciple of the sage was lead discoverer of food. Once he spotted some goats were enjoying the leaves of a vine. He further noticed that those goats will every day head for those vines first without stopping anywhere in between. He carefully plucked some leaves from that vine and washed those. He tentatively took a bite , found it to be of strange taste but not bitter. He ate some more portion of the leaf and found it to have some effect on him. He went running to the sage Markendya who had just finished his lunch. Shrishanu requested the guru to eat one leaf, he explained the effect what it had on him. Muni smilingly ate one slowly and liked the taste. After few hours he found that his digestive system has improved. So eating of that leaf became a ritual after a meal. One day Shrishanu noticed some squirrels were eating some round nuts up above the tall tree, some of those nuts were lying on the ground. He being the food finder took those nuts to his hut. He cleaned and allowed it to dry. After a few days he peeled the cover and tried the hard nut inside, it was not harmful but he enjoyed chewing it, so again Guru was informed about the nut. Then Markedya suggested why not the leaf and nut are eaten together so that it can be chewed longer. Well thus pan and beetle were discovered somewhere near Varanasi. No wonder that Banarsi pan is so famous. I am still carrying on my research to unravel how lime or Calcium carbonate was introduced, this introduction requires a chemist or kabiraj who would suggest to eat Alkali in pan to neutralize acid produced after oxidation .

Disclaimer; The above article is based on fact,fiction and my imagination. The origin of pan remains disputed in Asian countries like Indonesia, Bali, India etc.