Question
Describe the fish as food.

Answer

Fish as Food:
  • Traditional food habits are generally based on locally available items of food.
  • Bengal is a riverine plain which produces plenty of rice and fish.
  • These two items figure prominently in the menu of even poor Bengalis.
  • Fishing has always been an important occupation.
  • Bengali literature contains several references to fish.
  • Terracotta plaques on the walls of temples and Viharas (Buddhist monasteries) depict scenes of fish being dressed and taken to the market in baskets.
  • Brahmanas were not allowed to eat non-vegetarian food.
  • The popularity of fish in the local diet made the Brahmanical authorities relax this prohibition for the Bengali Brahmanas.
  • The Brithaddharma purana, a thirteenth-century Sanskrit text from Bengal, permitted the local Brahmanas to eat certain varieties of fish.

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