Indian Sweets
- sulla80
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Imagine a crisp, golden-fried pastry crescent, similar to a Karanji or Gujiya, filled with a decadent mixture of crushed nuts, sugar, and rare perfumes like musk, served hot from the Sultan's kitchen. Maybe I am just hungry today - we will eventually get to a coin.
The Dough: Made from Rice flour and Ghee (for a melt-in-the-mouth texture).
The Filling: A blend of Almond flour, Charoli nuts, roasted Chickpea flour, Sugar, and spices (Cardamom, Fennel, Musk).
Then deep fried in Ghee (clarified butter).
This is recipe being served to the Sultan Ghiyath Shah of Malwa in this water color from a 15th century copy of the Nimatnama-i-Nasiruddin-Shahi (Book of Delicacies of Nasir-ud-Din Shah) a cookbook written c.1500 in the Malwa Sultanate. The manuscript was written in Persian, in the Naskh script and illustrates the preparation of recipes through the Turkic style of Shirazi painting and the Chaurapanchasika style of pre-Mughal India. It is presently housed in the British Library, London.
Line 1: چینی و آرد برنج، پندالو و آرد برنج، تل را پی آرد چارولی
Transliteration: Chini va ard-e-birinj, pindalu va ard-e-birinj, til-ra, pi ard-e-charoli Translation: Sugar and rice flour, yam (pindalu) and rice flour, sesame seeds, [and] charoli nut flour...
Line 2: آرد نخود و چارولی، مشک و آرد بادام، خرما و آرد برنج، تمر Transliteration: Ard-e-nakhud va charoli, mushk va ard-e-badam, khurma va ard-e-birinj, tamar... Translation: Chickpea flour and charoli nuts, musk and almond flour, dates and rice flour, tamarind...
Line 3: هندی و شکر تری و برنج، بوی و آرد برنج، سونف
Transliteration: Hindi va shakar-e-tari va birinj, boye va ard-e-birinj, sonf... Translation: Indian [spices] and moist sugar and rice, aromatics (scent) and rice flour, fennel...
Lines 4-8 - an ingredient list:
o کشمش | Raisins (Kishmish)
o قرنفل | Cloves (Qaranful)
o مشک | Musk (Mushk)
o برنج | Rice (Birinj)
o سونف | Fennel (Sonf)
Line 5: کج سونف سوخته در تل، تل در میتهی، سونف سوخته، تل زیره
Transliteration: Kaj sonf sokhta dar til, til dar mithe, sonf sokhta, til zirah
Translation: Crushed roasted fennel in sesame, sesame in the sweet, roasted fennel, sesame [and] cumin...
Line 6: تل در هنگ سوخته، الایچی، روغن کردگان و برنج
Transliteration: Til dar hing sokhta, elaichi, roghan kardagan va birinj
Translation: Sesame in fried asafoetida (hing), cardamom, prepared in ghee/oil, and rice...
Mahmud Shah II
This coin is from the grandson of Ghiyath Shah, Mahmud Shah II, who ruled 1510–1531. He was the last ruler of the dynasty before Malwa fell to Gujarat and eventually the Mughals.
Mahmud Shah II was the fourth and final Sultan of the Khalji dynasty of Malwa. He was the son of Nasir-ud-Din and the grandson of Ghiyath Shah. His reign is remembered as a period of chaotic decline, marked by internal civil war and the ultimate collapse of the independent Malwa Sultanate.
Upon ascending the throne, Mahmud faced immediate rebellions from his own Muslim nobles. To counter them, he made the controversial decision to appoint Medini Rai, a Rajput chieftain, as his Wazir (Prime Minister). This temporarily stabilized his rule but alienated the Muslim aristocracy, effectively splitting the kingdom between two power centers.
Defeat by Rana Sanga (1519): After falling out with Medini Rai, Mahmud foolishly attacked the powerful Rajput confederacy led by Rana Sanga of Mewar. He was decisively defeated and captured in battle. In a famous act of chivalry, Rana Sanga treated his captive with honor and restored him to the throne, though Mahmud returned to a significantly weakened kingdom.
The Fall of Malwa (1531): Mahmud’s final undoing came when he offended Bahadur Shah, the powerful Sultan of Gujarat. In 1531, Bahadur Shah invaded Malwa, captured the capital of Mandu, and executed Mahmud Shah II along with his sons.
See Also : Mahmud II of Malwa at Forum Ancient Coins.
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