Culinary Traditions of Medieval Karnataka: The Soopa Shastra of Mangarasa III

Culinary traditions in India, as in the case of many intangible elements of our heritage, have often been passed down orally from generation to generation. It is, therefore, interesting to note that a medieval king of yore, Mangarasa the Third, from the area around present day Kallalli in Karnataka, tried to capture in cuisine of his region with his composition of the Soopashastra, a poetic work in the vardhak shatpadi meter. This treatise was transcribed into prose by S. N. Krishna Jois sometimes in the middle of the twentieth century. Through this work, now translated into English, we hope that readers will come to appreciate the continuing relevance of traditional cuisine as an integral part of our heritage. It is indeed comforting to realise that in the face of our everchanging modern lifestyles, some things remain the same.