The hookah has been a sign of Nawabi opulence, even decadence. In Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi, the hookah seemed to symbolise how the Nawabi chess players in Awadh were oblivious to the British power grab.
Down south, Tamils were no strangers to the Persian import of hookah. A rock work found in Chinnaiyanpettai tank in Tiruvannamalai shows that the hookah habit was not uncommon during the reign of Nayak and Vijayanagar Kings.
“The hookah came to India with Mughals. Nayaks and Vijayanagar chieftains must have inherited the habit from the Mughal rulers,” said cultural historian Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan.
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Mr. Madhusudhanan said it is well known that smoking of ganja and tobacco was common among Tamils in the past. Terracotta pots and pipes found in the archaeological sites at Adichanallur, Arikkamedu and Kodumanal stand testimony to it.
“But we have not come across hookah jars made of glass or Chinese clay so far,” he said.
K.T. Gandhirajan, an art historian and an authority on Nayak paintings, said the Chinnaiyanpettai tank hookah is one of a kind. “The sculpture shows a hookah jar and pipes with perfect finishing and it belongs to the late 16th century. Paintings and sculptures largely dealt with religion, and only during the Nayak and Vijayanagar period, non-religious themes gained prominence. The art in the tank deals with many social themes and has erotic content too,” he said.
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Mr. Madhusudhanan said sanyasis who followed the Kapalika and Kaalamuga cult indulged in hookah smoking. As a pilgrim centre, Thiruvannamalai attracted them.
“A song penned by Gopalakrishna Bharathiyar, the author of Nandan Charithram , describes their presence in Thiruvannamalai during Karthigai Deepam,” he explained.
The song “Kannara Kanden” has the lines “punthi mahizhavey hookah kudithidum pugaiyinal amothagam”, meaning, “they [the sanyasis] smoke hookah to to please the body and mind.”