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.
You are encouraged to bring an Indian style thali and either a drinking bowl or handless cup. Here's some variations on a thali:
Any eastern-style feast gear is acceptable. You should be able to find good-looking Indian or Chinese bowls, trays and cups online, at your local import store or Indian grocer. If you have rugs or large cushions you could loan for the evening, please contact Devamati. The more we have the more comfortable the evening will be. We are also looking for trinkets to give to the servants - bangles, fancy bindi, henna cones, uttariyas, garlands, or any other India-related trinkets would be wonderful. If you will be bringing donations of trinkets, contact Devamati. You may want to bring a basket to carry your dishes back to your camp in, we won't have any washing-up facilities.
This is a prime opportunity to show off your best and most authentic garb. Sheer cholis, stanapattas, and other authentic costumes that you may not feel comfortable wearing around the marketplace are especially encouraged. We want your best court garb, your most elaborate hairdos, your most extreme jewelry. South Indian garb, especially from the Chalukyan era, are encouraged but not required. Bare-breasted for the purpose of greater authenticity is allowed in the biyari tent.
Please bring your camera! We didn't get any pictures last year, and don't want to make the same mistake twice. If anyone would like to volunteer to be the Biyari Official Photographer, this would be greatly applauded!
House Wild Rose has graciously agreed to host our party this year. The camp is in block E24, off of the Great Eastern Highway. A map of Pennsic blocks can be found here:
Map of All of PennsicThe map may load below the title bar if your screen is small - scroll down. E24 is on the SouthEast side of the lake, on the lake-side of the road. House Wild Rose also has their own map to assist us in finding them. I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway - these nice folks are our hosts. There are no SCA_India members in camp, and so it was extremely generous of these folks to open up thier homes to us. I'll say no more on the subject
Decor and other supplies may be dropped off with Asim pre-biyari, or may be dropped off in the afternoon at House Wild Rose (see above). The Biyari Planning Monkeys will be plotting and scheming from 12:00 on at House Wild Rose on the Biyari Day, prior to that, if you can't drop stuff off before the evening please leave it with Asim. Asim is located at E19 (see Pennsic map above), and he has also provided us with a block map. As a point of reference, Asim camps next to Vlad's - the site of Hell and the Slave Auction every year. If you're facing Vlad's, Clan T'Bbas is to the right.
We will be dining in the Hindu fashion. This is quite different from the European or Persian fashion that most of us are familiar with. These tips will help you know what to expect and enjoy yourself:
When you arrive, there will be servants to wash your hands and purify you with smoke. If you want to say "Thank you" to the servants, simply say "Dhan-ya-vaad". The men and the women will go to their separate sides of the tent. Seating is on pillows on the floor, though there will be a small gaming table on the male side of the tent. People may sit wherever they like, and moving around on your side is encouraged.
We will eat with fingers only, no utensils are used. Rice is eaten by scooping up with a piece of bread or balled up in the fingers and popped in the mouth quickly. Dishes with gravy are eaten on top of rice or scooped up with bread. Normally only the right hand is used for eating, but this takes a lot of practice. Eating with the right hand only is encouraged but not required. Greeting and taking food is also done with the right hand.
Water will be available from glass bottles shared between several diners. To drink, you pour the water directly into your mouth without the edge of the bottle touching your lips. Other drinks will be served also, but they will be offered from pitchers and poured into each person's personal cups.
There will be no tables, buffets or food laid out. All food will be served by volunteer servants who will be constantly rotating through the diners. Trays of food will be presented to you. If you want some, simply take a piece off the tray and eat it! Almost everything will be in portions able to be eaten directly off of the serving trays. If it is rice or a dish with sauce, simply spoon some onto your plate. New dishes will be presented continuously throughout the evening. You are free to take however much food you want, or even request a dish returned if you would like another helping! The slaves will probably be under 21, so flirting and giving drinks to the servants is a definite no-no.
Men and women will eat the main part of the meal separately, divided by a curtain. When the main part of the meal is done, the curtain will be removed so the men and women will be together for the rest of the evening. There will be dance performances and storytelling, and live music (if the planets align correctly). But mostly, we are doing this for relaxed socializing time. We don't expect anyone to "stay in persona"... we try very hard to keep conversation on the list totally SCA and research-related, so we want this evening to be about socializing with friends you only see once a year, showing off the coolest clothes you have, and enjoying the most authentic environment we can create.
