Jigarthanda

A popular refreshing beverage of the southern city of Madurai (Tamil Nadu), the Jigarthanda has since its inception, become synonymous to the exacting summers in the tropical state. The sultry afternoons bubbling with the scorching sun and humid air are almost oppressive to city dwellers trying to survive the onslaught. Jigarthanda, as the name obviously suggests, is a soul cooler. Though prevalent in the southern region of India, Jigarthanda’s nomenclature would direct it to its northern cousins owing to the Hindi etymology. The very first mention of the summer drink appears in Ain-i-Akbari, a detailed account of the daily goings-on under Mughal emperor Akbar’s reign documented by the official court historian Abu'l Fazl.

The main ingredients in Jigarthanda include kadal paasi, milk, vanilla essence, sugar syrup and the staple orange food colour that lends the iconic bright hue to the drink.

Jigarthanda’s aesthetic northern relative, the Faloodah, mainly has vermicelli as its core ingredient while the almond pisin (gum) forms the primary element in Jigarthanda. The presence of vermicelli gives Faloodah a semi-solid consistency, making it the perfect scoopable delight while Jigarthanda is stirred and drunk. In fact, the beverage was a major player during wedding nights as almond was considered an aphrodisiac while the element of milk functioned as a soporific—“from cooling the heart to warming the loins,” journalist Baradwaj Rangan once said of the drink.

Another probable source for the drink is through the marriage alliance between the Pandya kings and Mughal emperors. A large portion of the Muslim population in Madurai anyway had its roots in Hyderabad or Lucknow. As per custom, cuisines would undergo massive evolution through marital setups back in the day, with the queen’s cooking entourage accompanying her into the new household.

Interestingly, the drink also has etymological roots in Arabia—it’s believed that the word ‘thanda’ is a derivative of ‘thandal’, which roughly translates to a ship’s captain or a coxswain. After the Mughal Sultans (rulers), Hyderabad and its neighbouring provinces came under the rule of the Nayak viceroys belonging to the Vijayanagara empire. After this, the word was gradually bowdlerised over the years to "Jigar-danda", the latter half referencing the king’s sceptre or even the mace (a weapon closely linked to Hanuman or Bheem in Hindu mythology). Such a reading thus made the Jigarthanda synonymous with the quintessential ‘energy drink’ befitting the strongest of Gods.