Most parts of India are hot and humid in summer. Thirst increases due to heat and ice is also needed to cool the body. When people go to snowy places for a trip, they drink ice sherbet or cold drinks to quench their thirst. In such a situation, it is difficult to imagine life without ice.
But have you ever wondered that when there were no freezers, no ice making machines and no means to store ice, where would the kings and rich people have brought ice from in the medieval era? How did the Mughal emperors use ice? The answers to all these questions are very interesting. After knowing this, you will also be able to know the importance of ice in life.
The Nawab used to bring pieces of ice from the mountains
In the Mughal period, there was no means of artificially freezing water from ice, so people were dependent on the ice frozen on mountains and water reservoirs. If we talk about kings, Maharajas, Nawabs or rich people, then these people used to order ice pieces from the mountains. You will be surprised to know that in the 15th century, Humayun started ordering ice blocks from Kashmir after breaking them. At that time, the king used to send fruit juice to the areas with snow-laden mountains. There, this juice was collected and sherbet was made. They used to drink this sherbet in summers.
Ice for Akbar came from the Himalayan valleys.
During Akbar's reign, ice was brought from the valleys of the Himalayas. It was not so easy to get it. For this, the help of elephants, horses and soldiers was taken. Since Akbar ruled over Agra and Agra is 500 miles away from the Himalayas, at that time ice was brought from the Himalayas wrapped in powdered and jute cloth. The blocks of ice coming from far away were small, so the kings invented a way to prevent the ice from melting.
This thing did not let the ice melt
Today we have many means to prevent snow from melting, but there was no such system at that time. Therefore, kings and emperors used saltpeter to prevent snow from melting. That is, potassium nitrate was sprinkled on the snow. This prevented the snow from melting for a long time.
Ice King's idea worked
It was difficult to get ice naturally in India, but America had natural sources of it. Lakes and rivers would freeze during the winter season and ice was supplied from there. Businessmen like Frederick Tudor understood this need of the people and started exporting ice to warmer regions. He is also known as the Ice King. The Tudor Ice Company also developed methods of sending ice over long distances. They broke the ice frozen in the rivers, rolled it into powder and loaded it on ships with ice chambers. From here, ice was sent to many countries other than India.
The first snow fell in Delhi in the year 1833.
It was in 1833, when ice was brought to Delhi for the first time. The British were very happy to see the ice coming from America. However, the British found this method of bringing ice very expensive, so they developed a way of making ice in Delhi itself.
For the first time in India, ice was prepared in this way
The British dug trenches from Delhi Gate to Turkman Gate and filled them with salty water and prepared ice with the help of sackcloth and husk in winters. This ice was specially stored in pits so that it could be kept safe till summer.
Ice houses were built
During the British period, America was the largest exporter of ice. But cheap and good quality ice coming from America was sold in Kolkata. It became famous in Mumbai and Delhi. Then the British built ice houses to store ice. Due to its low price, it reached the middle class families in a very short time.
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