Know the fascinating history of Paan

Betel Leaf, pan (in many Indian languages), or beeda (in Tamil), veeda (in Marathi) or vettila (in Malayalam) is a type of Indian digestive, which consists of fillings wrapped in a triangular package using leaves of the Betel pepper (Piper betle) and held together with a toothpick or a clove.

Paan is chewed as a palate cleanser and a breath freshener. It is also commonly offered to guests and visitors as a sign of hospitality and eaten at cultural events. Paan filling is generally a mixture of various spices, fruits, and sugar. Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco as an ingredient to their paan fillings. Although many types of paan contain betel nuts as a filling, many other types do not. Some other types include what is called sweet paan, where can died fruit and fennel seeds are used.

“Paan” is sometimes mistakenly translated as “Betel nut”, the seed of the tropical palm Areca catechu. Rather, supari or adakka is the term for betel nut in many Indian languages. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies betel nut as a known human carcinogens. Paan chewing is linked to high levels of oral cancer in the Indian subcontinent. Both tobacco and betel nut are themselves carcinogens but the combination of the two appears to have a synergistic or multiplicative, rather than additive, effect on cancer risk.

Paan was served as must in the royal families in the past in Paan Daans. The tradition of eating paan was popularized by Queen Noorjaha, the mother of King Shahjaha who built the world famous Taj Mahal for his queen.

In olden days women used natural elements for makeup and cosmetics. Queen Noorjehan discovered that adding certain ingredients to the paan and eating it gives a beautiful natural red colour to the lips. So, along with its taste, paan was eaten by women for reddening the lips. In olden days wives offered betel leaf to their husbands to seduce them and to wean them away from the ‘Other Women’ after reciting the Vashikaran mantras 108 times. The thugs, in the olden times, poisoned their victims by offering a poison filled paan after a heavy wining and dining session.