Imagine you are in the Pleasure Hall of the King. Here in the South the late summer steams, but you are cool in the evening with the breeze blowing over the wet scented screens. The scents of sandalwood and many flowers drift past as you walk slowly across the entryway, admiring the complex lines of rice flour and turmeric on the floor. The layers of jewelry around you tinkle softly as you walk. The low sound of music being played and singing comes from behind the screens. You smell the warm smell of ghee lamps as you pass through the entryway, and you kiss your lover and slip through the curtain to the women's quarters. Pitchers of ice-cold water, fruit juices scented with spices, date wine, and sweet lime arishta are brought in, and you thankfully take a glass of lime arishta.
Then the serving boys bring in freshly steamed rice and each woman takes a fresh banana leaf wiped with ghee and sprinkled with salt. Then they bring more trays; strips of moist lamb sprinkled with a tongue-tingling mixture of costly black pepper and asafoetida, tiny purple and white eggplants stuffed with spices and meat, fried lentil patties with creamy sour yogurt. Huge trays laden with ripe fruit are brought in by slender servant girls, and then more trays of sweets dripping with kewra and cardamom-scented ghee and sugar. After a little while of savoring the food, more trays begin arriving; rich flatbread stuffed with nuts and fruit, shrimp in a rich coconut broth with tender yams, and more. You listen for the voice of your lover on the other side of the curtain and sigh. Later the women will join the men and there will be fragrant tambula, betel leaves and spices to clean the mouth, and stories and dancing until late in the night. For now it is relaxing with the other women, and you lean over to talk to an old friend.
Kolanupaka was the first royal city of the Western Chalukya Dynasty, which ruled Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat from 980 through 1190 AD. King Someshvara III was the last of the Western Chalukyan kings, but he wrote one of the greatest works in Sanskrit literature, Royal Life in Manasollasa. This work detailed the life of the king, from the wars in which he solidified his kingdom to the pleasures he took with his many wives, to the food he ate. This year we will be celebrating Manasollasa and the culture of the Deccan and southern India. Southern Indian attire is preferred, though any attempt at period Indian garb is appreciated.
This is a rare opportunity to truly live the dream. Spaces are very limited, and payments can be taken over the ether. Contact Devamati at lisa@frostedelves.net to reserve your space today. We truly hope you will join us for the second Biyari at Pennsic.