Kallanai is the earliest irrigation dam in India that continues to be in use. It is also considered among the four oldest dams in the world. It was built by Karikala Chola of the early Cholas, around 150 CE.

The river cauvery bifurcates around Srirangam in Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery branch forms the irrigated delta and is a vital agricultural belt. The Kollidam branch flows straight into the sea and it is a flood carrier. It is barely used for irrigation. Kallanai was used to divert excess flood water into the Kollidam branch through a small connecting river. Thus, agriculture along the cauvery branch was not affected during floods.

This was the first and only hydraulic structure in cauvery till the 19th century. The dam has an unusual curved shape. The top also has notches and slopes which helps in carrying the sediment away from Cauvery and into Kollidam. The British modified the dam substantially in early 19th century.

Source: Tank and anicut irrigation systems engineering analysis, Chitra Krishnan

The Sanskrit word for wheat is Godhuma. The Tamil word is Godumai, remarkably similar. In Punjabi wheat is Kanak, in Bengali it is Gom or Gam and in Marathi it is Gahu.

Source: Origin and History of Godhuma, Patil D. A and Ahirrao Y.A

Scholars have linked changes in cereal production in Harappan civilization with the 4.2kya event. This climatic shift is broadly described as an abrupt and severe arid phase that began c. 2150 BC and lasted between one and several centuries. This has been linked to the decline of Harappan culture.

In this Late Harappan period, kharif (summer monsoon) crops like rice, sorghum and millets, became more important as compared to the rabi crops of wheat & barley. Millets can withstand arid climate. Harappan sites have a large diversity of millets– foxtail millets, little millets, sawa millets, signal grass millets, finger millets, sorghum, peral/kodo millets. Sorghum remains the most popular millet in India today accounting for 50% of millet production.

Source: Different Strategies in Indus Agriculture, Jennifer Bates & Jungwoo Choi,”

Agriculture was established between 7500 BC and 5500 BC in the northwesternmost part of the Indian subcontinent. Earliest evidence is at the ancient site of Mehrgarh which is in Baluchistan. Barley was the dominant crop here and was apparently supplemented with some wheat. The barley found is the well-developed domesticate, six-row barley.

Scholars are divided if the varieties came from West Asia or were indigenous. However, the early barley and wheat in Mehrgarh have predominantly small spherical grains, indicating that varieties adapted to local conditions were developed there. Barley was the predominant crop in the earliest phases of the Harappan civilization. It was gradually supplanted by wheat in the mature phase.

Barley, called Yava, is also the most common agricultural term in Rig Veda and is mentioned more than a dozen times. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh produce 80% of India’s barley

Source: What can Rig Veda tell us on Agriculture, Gyula Wojtilla. https://www.britannica.com/topic/agriculture/The-Indian-subcontinent#ref982313

A ploughed field was discovered at Kalibangan dated 2300-1700CE. The field showed a grid of furrows, with one set, more closely spaced, running east-west, and the other, widely spaced, running north-south. Curiously enough, this pattern bears a remarkable resemblance to modern ploughing in the neighborhood, where two types of cereal are grown in the same field.

No remains of either a plough or a ploughshare or a coulter have, however, been obtained from the excavation. However the existence of a field showing tolerably well-preserved furrows provides concrete evidence for the use of the plough. The material of which the ploughshare or coulter were made and its shape still remain to be known.

Source: https://www.harappa.com/blog/worlds-earliest-known-ploughed-field

The circular appam is mentioned in the Perumpanuru, which is a 5th Century Tamil Classical poem. In those times, the present division between Kerala and Tamil Nadu did not exist.

Appam batter is made with and coconut which is also often fermented with toddy overnight. It is thick and soft with a spongy centre and a crisp brown edge.

The basic approach to preparing Appam has led to several varieties of Appam in Kerala – Heating on a metal plate held over boiling water yields Kallappam. Idiappam consists of soft extruded noodles of steamed rice. Steaming in a banana leaf packet with jaggery and jackfruit pulp yields Eleyappam (leaf-appam). Acchappam is made by dipping the batter in a circular patterned mould. Neiappam is a deep fried sweet made with rice and jaggery. Kuzhiyappam or Unniyappam is made by pouring a rice, banana and coconut batter into circular moulds.

Source: Companion to Indian Food, TK Acharya

Researchers led by Prof Vasant Shinde have discovered plates and ovens that resemble modern-day tandoors in Rakhigarhi. According to Shinde, a lot of modern-day Indian cuisine, especially those found locally in Haryana, like tandoori chicken or rotis, were being prepared back then in the Indus Valley. “Everything we eat now in modern times was also being eaten back then,” says Shinde.

It is not just the remains of food that tell us what they consumed, Shinde says, but also the types of crockery that were used. “We have found remains of plates in Punjab and Haryana for instance. But for that same period, we find bowls in Gujarat. It indicates that more rotis were eaten in the northern region, while in Gujarat, liquid (or porridge-like) food consisting of sorghum and millets (discovered at these sites) were being consumed.” The continuity of Indian culture is staggering.

Source: What They Ate in Indus Valley, Open Magazine

The oldest cereal crops in India are barley, Wheat and Rice. These were followed by Ragi, Kodon, Bajra and Jowar. All the major cereals we see in India were in existence for atleast 2000 years. Maize is the only outlier. It was introduced in India around 1435 AD. Clay impression of maize cob with orderly arrangement of grains was found in Kaundinyapur in Madhya Pradesh around this date.

The earliest written record of maize cultivation is during Aurangzeb’s time. Tax on Makka was collected in Jaipur Pargana in 1689. Oat and Rye are recently introduced cereals in India.

Source: Ancient Grains from India, Kajale MD

Indigenous variety of rice has been discovered at Lahuradeva in Eastern UP in the Ganga plains dating back 8000-10000 years ago along with evidence of slash & burn cultivation of rice. But rice doesn’t seem to be a popular crop in the Harappan civilisation. It gained importance only in the late period (2000BCE).

Dr Jennifer Bates, a leading scholar of Harappan archeo-botany suggests that rice had a separate domestication process in South Asia. A mix of ‘wetland’ and ‘dryland’ agriculture of local Oryza sativa indica rice developed in India. The truly ‘wetland’ Chinese rice, Oryza sativa japonica arrived around 2000 BC. It is more productive and became dominant.

Source: What They Ate in Indus Valley, Open Magazine

The traditional grinding stone for spices (sil batta in Hindi, ammi kallu in Tamil, shil nora in Bengali) is a set of two heavy stones (sil – flat, batta – cylindrical) used to grind spices. These were very common in Indian kitchens till the mixie made them redundant a generation ago.

These along with a figurine of a woman kneading flower has also been found, showing the continuity of food preparation methods from those times.

Most archeo-botanical research (of food remains in ancient sites) at Harappan sites have focused on cereals. But the discovery of remains of spices like ginger & turmeric, vegetables like eggplants & fruits like mango & jujube on the grinding stones & pottery indicate that Harrapans like Indians today, were fond of curries. One interesting find is remains of ginger & turmeric on the teeth of human & cattle bones. This raises an interesting possibility. Cattle were rummaging through leftover human food in Harappan times too, as they do today. Some unwanted cultural continuity there!

Source: A History of Agriculture in India , DS Randhawa

Amaranth is called Ramdana or Rajgira. It is gluten free and is rich in protein. It is a pseudocereal as its seeds are starchy like cereals, but they are not in the same botanical family of cereals. Rajgira is consumed during fasting days when wheat and rice are avoided. Rajgira chikki is a common panshop item, especially in Mumbai. Amaranth is of Mexican origin.

Rig Veda refers to Apupa as an offering to Indra. Barley was fried and consumed in the form of cakes dipped in ghee or as sweet cakes called Apupa. They were fashioned out of the flour, boiled in water or fried in ghee and then dipped in honey. Grhtavantam (meaning cooked in ghee) is another term used for Apupa in Rig Veda.

The Bengali sweet Pua and Malpua preserve both the name and essentials of this preparation. Apupa continues to be mentioned in ancient literature including Panini (500 BC).

Source: Companion to Indian Food, TK Acharya