India observes Sankranti as a mid-winter harvest festival. Celebrated with kites in Gujarat, prayers in the north and Pongal in Tamil Nadu, the festival symbolises new beginnings and prosperity. Sankranti marks the transition of the Sun into makara rashi or Capricorn and the beginning of Uttarayanam, when the Sun ‘enters’ the northern hemisphere. It’s a prayer of thanks to our star.
Rice was probably domesticated first in the Yangtze basin in China around 7,000 BCE, although the approximate time is disputed. It’s also said have been grown near the Vindhyas about 7000 BCE and domesticated along the Ganga by 6000 BCE. By 3500 BCE, it spread to Southeast Asia.
Today, rice is a staple for 65 percent of India’s population. Its production, processing and trading is a major employer. There’s a wondrous variety of rice varieties, too. For example, in the Kuttanad region of Kerala, it’s uniquely cultivated below the sea level. It’s also a global staple, and hence important for food security everywhere.
The cultivation and sanctity of rice is as old as Indian culture. Sita in the Rigveda means furrow. In the Ramayan, the childless King Janaka finds a baby in the furrow and names her Sita. Ahalya, created by Brahma, means ‘unploughed’. Rabindranath Tagore suggested that Rama’s release of Ahalya from a stone probably refers to the reclamation of uncultivated land.
The plough was so sacred that kings made pacts by swearing on the plough, according to Kautilya. The Atharvaveda describes rice as a healing balm, “the sons of heaven who never die”. The Taittiriya Upanishad says the supreme being or purusha is formed of rice, and that all that is born comes from, lives on and merges into rice. The Mahabharat says there is no gift greater than rice, while the Bhagavat Gita reaffirms that all beings are formed of rice. Krishna gifts Draupadi an akshaya patram, a bowl of limitless rice. In the Tamil epic Manimekalai, sage Aputran owns a similar bowl that he disposes of when stranded on an island; thereafter, it comes to Manimekalai.
Rice is symbolic of prosperity, whose goddess is Lakshmi. Annapurna, holding a bowl of rice in one hand and a spoon in the other, is the goddess of Kashi on the Ganga and is worshipped all over the country. In Bengal, she is depicted as providing rice to Shiva and his assistants. Annalakshmi, created by Vishnu to ensure that humanity does not suffer from hunger, holds a sheaf of paddy in one hand, or a rice bowl and spoon like Annapoorna. Dhanyalakshmi has many arms and holds several sheaves of paddy and other grains. There are also local rice deities all over India. Ponni Amman is celebrated in northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh, depicted as a head placed on earth, which is her body. In Manipur, there is Phouoibi or lady of the paddy of the Meitei people.
Rice is also associated with male deities. Taittiriya Aranyak describes Annadevata, the rice god, as the progenitor. According to the Shatapatha Brahman, rice originated from the body of Indra. Nellaiappar of Tirunelveli is worshipped as a form of Shiva.
Each eastern Asian country has a unique legend about how rice came to their land and communities in most of these countries pray to a benevolent rice deity.
Dewi Sri, a Southeast Asian name for Sridevi or Lakshmi, is a Balinese, Javanese and Sundanese Hindu goddess of rice and fertility still widely worshipped in parts of Indonesia. She is two-armed, holding a sprig of paddy in one hand, with the other in a gesture of giving. The stories of Dewi Sri are associated with the mythical origin of the rice plant. All useful plants essential for humans are said to come from Dewi Sri’s body. Traditional Javanese homes have a small shrine called pasrean or the place of Sri. Worshippers offer food and prayers to her so that she may grant the family health and prosperity.
Inari is a Japanese Shinto deity, identified with the Buddhist Dakiniten, who rides a white fox and protects rice cultivation. Mae Posop is the rice goddess of Thailand, a mother figure who provides food and is worshipped with offerings to ancestral shrines, the spirit of the land, or monks. In Laos, the story goes that when a farmer trapped a golden fish, the fish king gave rice to humans in exchange. Guanyin, the Chinese Avalokiteshvara, sent a dog down to Earth during a great flood with rice grains clinging to its tail, which led her to be worshipped as a rice goddess.
In 2022, Apsara Arts of Singapore staged the dance drama Arisi in Balinese and Indian dance styles, with Chinese, Balinese and Indian music, about oriza sativa or rice dominating society and culture.
Rice is a part of living traditions. Many myths, oral histories and ceremonies relate to it. From birth to death, every ritual in a person’s life is associated with rice. Thus the prayer goes, ‘Annam bahu kurvita’ or may the rice be plentiful—for it’s essential for human survival.
Nanditha Krishna
Historian, environmentalist and writer based in Chennai