Ahilyabai Holkar at the table

A Hindu meal arranged on a thali: a large brass plate where small bowls (vati) are placed around a central mound of rice — varan (dal), a seasonal vegetable (bhaji), a yogurt salad (koshimbir), a flatbread (poli), a little sugar or sweet paste, ghee, and salt. One eats with the right hand, seated on a purified floor, beginning by offering a bite to the sacred fire. At the queen's table, everything was strictly vegetarian (ahimsa) and prepared by Brahmin cooks according to purity rites.

Clarified butter is the heart of this pious court cuisine: it binds the rice, browns the breads, carries the offering to the gods. The spices remain mild and 'sattvic' — turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom, asafoetida (hing), ginger — to nourish the body without heating the mind, in accordance with Ahilyabai's Shaivite devotion.