Paan

It has been suggested that Pan Dan be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia\'s quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007)

Betel pepper (Piper betle) vines

Shopkeeper making Paan in an Indian store

Betel Leaf, pan (in many Indic languages, हिन्दी : पान ), or beeda (in Tamil), veeda (in Marathi) or vettila (in Malayalam) is a type of Indian digestive, which consists of fillings wrapped in a triangular package using leaves of the Betel pepper (Piper betle) and held together with a toothpick or a clove.

Paan is chewed as a palate cleanser and a breath freshener. It is also commonly offered to guests and visitors as a sign of hospitality and eaten at cultural events. Paan filling is generally a mixture of various spices, fruits, and sugar. Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco as an ingredient to their paan fillings. Although many types of paan contain betel nuts as a filling, many other types do not. Some other types include what is called sweet paan, where candied fruit and fennel seeds are used.

"Paan" is sometimes mistakenly translated as "Betel nut", the seed of the tropical palm Areca catechu. Rather, supari or adakka is the term for betel nut in many Indic languages. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies betel nut as a known human carcinogen. Paan chewing is linked to high levels of oral cancer in the Indian subcontinent. Both tobacco and betel nut are themselves carcinogens but the combination of the two appears to have a synergistic or multiplicative, rather than additive, effect on cancer risk.

Paan was served as must in the royal families in the past in Paan Daans. The tradition of eating paan was popularised by Queen Noorjehan, the mother of King Shahjehan who built the world famous Taj Mahal for his queen.

In olden days women used natural elements for makeup and cosmetics. Queen Noorjehan discovered that adding certain ingredients to the paan and eating it gives a beautiful natural red colour to the lips. So, along with its taste, paan was eaten by women for reddening the lips. In olden days wives offered betel leaf to their husbands to seduce them and to wean them away from the \'Other Women\' after reciting the Vashikaran mantras 108 times. The thugs, in the olden times, poisoned their victims by offering a poison filled paan after a heavy wining and dining session.

In the underworld, even today, the word \'supari\' is used as a cue for murder.

Paan is a ubiquitous sight in India, but in urban areas, chewing paan is generally considered a nuisance because some spit the paan out in public areas. The red stain generated by the combination of ingredients when chewed are known to make a colorful stain on the ground. This is becoming an unwanted eyesore in cities like Mumbai, although most see it as a integral part to Indian culture.

The skilled paan maker is known as a paanwala. Many people believe that their paanwala is the best, considering it an art that takes practice and expert touch.

Contents 1 Varieties 2 Paan Culture 2.1 North India 2.2 Myanmar 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

Varieties

Paan is available in many different forms and flavours. The most commonly found include:

• Tobacco (tambaku paan): Betel leaf filled with powdered tobacco with spices.
• Betel nut (paan supari, paan masala or sada paan): Betel leaf filled with a mixture consisting of a coarsely ground or chopped betel nuts and other spices.
• "Sweet" (meetha paan): Betel leaf with neither tobacco nor betel nuts. The filling is made up primarily of coconut, fruit preserves, and various spices. It is also often served with a maraschino cherry.
• "Trento" (olarno paan): It is said that it tastes like beetles but has a minty after taste. Eaten along with fresh potatoes, it is served in most Indian restaurants.

There are a variety of betel leaves grown in different parts of India; the method of preparation also differs. The delicately flavoured paan from Bengal is known as Desi Mahoba. Maghai and Jagannath are the main paans of Benaras. Paan prepared from small and fragile leaves from south India is known as Chigrlayele. The thicker black paan leaves, the ambadi and Kariyele, are more popular and are chewed with tobacco.

Paan Culture

North India

Paan eating was taken to its zenith of cultural refinement in the pre-partition era in North India, mainly Lucknow, where paan eating became an elaborate cultural custom, and was seen as a ritual of the utmost sophistication. The traditional way of paan making, storing and serving is interesting. The leaves are stored wrapped in a moist, red colored cloth called \'shaal-baaf\', inside a silver(or any other metal) casket called, \'Paan Daan\'. The Paan Daan has several compartments with lids built in it, each for storing a different filling or spice. To serve, a leaf is removed from the wrapping cloth, de-veined, and kattha and choona paste is generously applied on its surface. This is topped with tiny pieces of betel nuts, cardamom saffron, (un)/roasted coconut pieces/powder, cloves, tobacco etc, according to the eater\'s personal preferences. The leaf is then folded in a special manner until it looks like a triangle. This form is called \'Gilouree\' and is ready to be eaten. On special occasions, the gilouree is wrapped in delicate silver leaf (vark). To serve, a silver pin is inserted to prevent the gilouree from unfolding open, and placed inside a domed casket called \'Khaas-daan\'. Alternatively, the gilouree is sometimes held together by a paper or foil folded into a funnel with the gilouree\'s pointed end inserted inside it. Voracious paan eaters do not swallow; instead, they chew it, enjoying its flavours, and then spit it into a spittoon.^{[citation needed]}

Myanmar

Kun-ya is the word for paan in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and has a very long tradition. Both men and women loved it and every household, right up to the 1960s, used to have a special lacquerware box for paan called kun-it which would be offered to any visitor together with cheroots to smoke and green tea to take. The leaves are kept inside the bottom of the box which looks rather like a small hat box but with a top tray for small tins, silver in well-to-do homes, of various other ingredients such as the betel nuts, slaked lime, cutch, aniseed and a nut cutter. The sweet form (acho) is popular with the young but grownups tend to prefer it with cardamom, cloves and tobacco. Spittoons therefore are still ubiquitous, and signs saying "No paan-spitting" are commonplace as it makes a messy red splodge on floors and walls; many people display betel-stained teeth from the habit. Paan stalls and kiosks used to be run mainly by people of Indian origin in towns and cities. Smokers who want to kick the habit would also use betel nut to wean themselves off tobacco.

Taungoo in Lower Burma is where the best areca palms are grown indicated by the popular expression "like a betel lover taken to Taungoo". Other parts of the country contribute to the best paan according to another saying "Dada-Oo for the leaves, Ngamyagyi for the tobacco, Taungoo for the nuts, Sagaing for the slaked lime, Pyay for the cutch". Kun, hsay, lahpet (paan, tobacco and pickled tea) are deemed essential items to offer monks and elders particularly in the old days. Young maidens traditionally carry ornamental betel boxes on a stand called kundaung and gilded flowers (pandaung) in a shinbyu (novitiation) procession. Burmese history also mentions an ancient custom of a condemned enemy asking for \'a paan and a drink of water\' before being executed.

References

• India Profile, Tradition of Chewing Paan
• Types of Paan
• Chander Kanta Gariyali, The Chewing of Betel leaf - Part II

See also

• Betel nut
• Mukhwas

External links

• Erowid information on Betel nuts

• The Tradition of Chewing Paan

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia