Regional Characteristics of Grapes in Ancient India

Abstract

Stories about grapes are more common in the Vinaya of the Sarvāstivādin than in that of the Theravāda. Edible grapes come from two sources: the European grape hails from the Caucasus, and the American grape from North America. This paper examines the grape-growing areas of ancient India and the surrounding region, considering the use of the Vinayas and confirming the knowledge of the ancient Indians through stories of grapes in the Vinayas.

Grape stories in the Vinayas are neither as detailed nor as numerous as those in ancient Greek and Roman texts. According to the travellers Hyech’o 慧超 （704-787） and Xuanzang 玄奘 （602-664） , grapes were cultivated in Kashmir and Kāpisī. This is also the case with Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra. Kauṭilya, Hyech’o and Xuanzang offer the same evidence, although from different periods. The distance a camel or donkey carrying a 100 kg load can travel in a day is 30-40 km. It is not easy to transport fresh grapes to the interior of India, and sssuming that grapes are not grown in the interior of the Indian subcontinent, it is not known where the Vinayas were used.