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He also has some privileges connected with the river which flows past Yerandawana; as, for instance, gravel cannot be taken from it without paying him a royalty. He also has certain rights over the stone quarries and the pasturage on some of the hills. Pan supari is the betel nut wrapped up in a leaf, which is distributed to guests on festal occasions, and chewed by those who like it.
The festival of each local saint is kept by the Mohammedans of that locality with prayers and feasting and merrymaking for several days. The occasion of the pan supari party was the festival of the local saint of the mosque which adjoined the Inamdar's house in the city. The saint's names and titles were also of formidable dimensions "Peer Sayed Hisamodin Kattal Junjani Chishte."
Over the greater part of India the natives use the Hindustanee name supari, but by Englishmen it is best known as the betel nut, because it is always found in company with the betel leaf, with which, however, it has no more connection than strawberries have with cream. The one is the leaf of a kind of pepper vine, and the other is the seed, or nut, of a palm.
The remainder of the crop is kept in large baskets, which are placed in tanks containing water, the baskets being completely immersed. This kind of betel-nut is called u 'wáí um. The Khasis, like the Assamese; prefer the fresh betel-nut. They do not relish the dry supári so much.
The guests; nature of the entertainment. The guests garlanded; no hostess. General conclusions; not an occasion for a missionary. The titles belonging to Indians of real or imaginary importance take up an astonishing amount of space on paper. I received an invitation to what is called on the card, a pan supari party.
According to another bearing a date corresponding to Wednesday, October 16, in the same year, he caused a Jain temple to be erected in the capital, in a street called the "Pan Supari Bazaar." This temple is situated south-west of the temple marked as No. 35 on the Government map. It is within the enclosure of the royal palace, and close to the rear of the elephant stables still standing.
But that the pan supari party to which English were invited was sure to be eminently respectable, while the concluding days would probably be devoted to singing and dancing of the usual dubious kind. Unfortunately, parties to which English are invited by both Hindus and Mohammedans are not always free from objectionable features.
"I had taken from my garments my silver betel-nut box, and was leisurely spreading on a leaf the smear of lime preparatory to enjoying my pan supari, musing the while on the strange little ironies of life that came to my knowledge each day in the discharge of my magisterial functions. All at once a shadow from the open doorway fell across the room.
To an Englishman, however, it is now generally conceded to compromise by keeping the morsel in his hand, as if waiting an opportunity to enjoy it more at his leisure. When you get home your servant craves it of you and contrasts real rajah's pan supari with the stuff which the poor man gets in the bazaar.
Exposure to the air soon spoils it, so a small, air-tight tin box is required to keep it in. Lastly, the betel leaf must be fresh, and in a hot climate green leaves do not keep their freshness without special care. But the necessity for attending to all these matters no doubt adds greatly to the interest which a chewer of pan supari is able to find in life.
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