Alcohol use has been an issue of great ambivalence throughout the rich and long history of the Indian subcontinent. The behaviors and attitudes about alcohol use in India are very complex, contradictory and convoluted because of the many different influences in that history. The evolution of alcohol use patterns in India can be divide into four broad historical periods (time of written records), beginning with the Vedic era (ca. 1500-700 BCE). From 700 BCE to 1100 CE, (âReinterpretation and Synthesisâ) is the time of emergence of Buddhism and Jainism, with some new anti-alcohol doctrines, as well as post-Vedic developments in the Hindu traditions and scholarly writing. The writings of the renowned medical practitioners, Charaka and Susruta, added new lines of thought, including arguments for âmoderate alcohol use.â The Period of Islamic Influence (1100-1800 CE), including the Mughal era from the 1520s to 1800, exhibited a complex interplay of widespread alcohol use, competing with the clear Quranic opposition to alcohol consumption.
Katyal R, Bansal R, Goel K, Sharma S (2012) Is Spiritual Background Related to Indulgence into Alcohol Use: A Cross-Sectional Study in an Urban Slum of Meerut? J Community Med Health Educ 2:193
Last date updated on September, 2014
