Sura (alcoholic beverage)

Surā (Sanskrit and Pāli; Devanāgarī: सुरा) is a strong distilled alcoholic beverage. It is referred to as an anaesthetic by Suśruta (a surgeon in India around 4 BCE) before the advent of surgical operation. Other ancient medical authorities also mention it; Charaka referred to making a woman with a miscarriage senseless to pain by administering alcoholic drinks like surā, sīdhu, ariṣṭa, madhu, madirā or āsava.^[1]

The method for preparation appears in the Atharvaveda^[2] in the Kandas 5 and 8.

In Buddhist texts surā is mentioned as one of intoxicating drinks, along with (Pali) meraya (Sanskrit maireya) 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).

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