Sura or Sooraa (
Sanskrit and
Pāli;
Devanāgarī: सुरा) is a strong distilled
alcoholic drink originating from the
Indian subcontinent. It is referred to as an
anaesthetic by
Suśruta (a surgeon in India circa 400 BCE). Other ancient medical authorities also mention it;
Charaka referred to making a woman with a miscarriage senseless to pain by administering alcoholic drinks like sooraa, sīdhu, ariṣṭa, madhu, madirā or āsava.[1]
History
The method for preparation appears in the
Atharvaveda[2] in the Kandas 5 and 8.
In
Buddhist texts surāh is mentioned as one of intoxicating drinks, along with (
Pali) meraya (Sanskrit maireya, a drink made with sugar cane and several spices[3]) and majja (maybe equivalent of Sanskrit madhu,
mead or hydromel), and renunciation of its usage constitutes the 5th of the Buddhist
precepts (pañca-sīlāni): "I undertake the training rule to abstain from
fermented drinks which cause heedlessness" (Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi).