Can you imagine India without its rotis? Or can you imagine your festivals without sweets and cakes?
Absolute not.
But what if I inform you that wheat is not native to India.
Wheat is one of the most used grains in the world. You can not imagine India without its rotis made of wheat flour. But when it comes to its origin, wheat is not native to India. The history of wheat in India is quite interesting.
It is actually astonishing how the food we think of our own is often assimilated to our culture from different places or cultures.
Most of our food ingredients are not originated in India. They came to India from other places thousands of years ago, adapting on the way and becoming our own.
Our chillies?
Our potatoes?
Our tomatoes?
Pumpkin?
Cloves?
Cinnamon?
Cauliflowers?
Everything transmigrated to India at certain points in the history. But now, you can’t imagine our food without them.
Just like the story of cauliflower, I shared here; wheat transmigrated to India around 6500 BC which is almost 8500 years ago.
History of Wheat in India
The origins of wheat can be traced back to the wild wheatgrass which originated in the foothills of the Southern Mountains in Turkey in or around 10,000 BC.
Can you imagine the golden grains that we eat everyday has a history of 12,000 years!
The first attempt to domesticate it was made during 10,000 BC to 9500 BC. But it had a long way to go before wheat reached India.
Turkey was an integral part of the Fertile Crescent and centre of Mesopotamia. It was also home to several other grains eaten in the modern world.
It was believed that wheat migrated with the early men as they left Mesopotamia for better shelter and hunting opportunities. They carried seeds of wheat with them and sowed them as they went to North Africa, Europe, Egypt, and Central Asia.
These areas started growing wheat between the time frame of 8,000-6500 BC.
But it was not until 6500 BC, approximately 4000 years after its domestication, wheat reached Baluchistan, India (now in Pakistan). It then went to become the most cultivated grain in the northwest India for several millennia.
Archaeological evidence has proved that wheat reached India before the Harappa Civilisation. The Baluchistan excavations confirmed that although pottery was not known in that period, people used mud-brick structures to cook the wheat grains.
In fact, Harappan period saw its acceptance as a main food in the northern India. It transmigrated from the Indus basin as the people penetrated the heartland of India to the Gangatic plains.
This migration was confirmed by carbo dating the charcoaled wheat found not only in Mohenjo-Daro but in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The reason why wheat was cultivated extensively in this belt can be traced to the geography of north India. People adapted wheat easily for its versatility and longer shelf period. However, it is fascinating how the geographic conditions of north-west India encouraged the cultivation of wheat.
Soon, the whole area started cultivating wheat and it went on to become the grain basket of India.
Wheat requires 100 days of continuous sunshine (or frost-free conditions) and an annual rainfall of 30-80 cm. It also requires good drainage and light clay or heavy loamy soil.
All these geographic conditions are present in the northern part of Indian sub-continent making it suitable for wheat cultivation. Now, India is known for its wheat flour rotis and is one of the major producers of wheat.
Trivia: There is no mention of wheat in Rig Veda. Why? It is because when the Rig Veda was being written, wheat was not cultivated in India.
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla, and happily SPONSORED BY RRE Studios and SHOWCASE Events.
Very interesting info, Puspanjalee. And I thought wheat was native to Punjab or Northwest frontier. I know about tomatoes chillies bit not aboutwheat. No wonder Rigvada didn’t mention. Mesopotamian civilization was very advanced.
Thank you so much Hardeep for reading
Thats an informative read Pushpanjalee. Wheat is a staple in India. We cannot imagine days without chapati. It is good to to read about the history of wheat.
Thank you so much for reading. Yes, modern India is unimaginable without wheat
A very informative post. I dislike eating roti, more of a rice lover. However, after 2-3 days I start craving one. Guess its in our system. 🙂
Wow, I did not know so much about the history of wheat. So amazing… I also just knew that it was native from Punjab!
Thank you so much for reading
Wow this is really interesting. I did not know that wheat is not native to India as it is main grain we use in day to day life. really liked the way you had explained history of wheat.
Thank you so much
WOW. I didn’t know that most food we took for granted did not originate in India. Due to your geography of food I will learn more facts about food.
Thank you so much for your kind words
Really informative post. If wheat came to India nearly 8000 years before, we can legitimately call it ours. By the way, was Turkey there 10000 years before? May be region was part of some other empire.
Turkey was part of the ancient Mesopotamia. Thank you for reading
These are some interesting fact about wheat which I wasn’t aware. Will share it with my kuds too.
Thank you so much
I never knew this, and honestly, since rotis, chapatis are so common in almost every household in India, hardly anyone must be aware of this fact. Thanks, for sharing Pushpanjalee.
This is really interesting! I never really looked into the history of wheat and how it reached India. It is fascinating to read it and specially shocking to learn it originated in Turkey. Very nice post!
That was astonishing to know I always thought what was originally first cultivated in Panjab.
Before I read your post, I could have bet that wheat was native to India. I knew that it was grown in north India as the climate was better suited and hence the consumption also is more there. It was interesting to read the origin of wheat. Well researched and written post, Puspanjalee.
This is an informative and fascination post about the history of wheat. Wheat is an integral part of our daily diet and i cant imagine a day without it!
This is so informative and interesting as well. I am more curious to know about this food geography. Thanks for sharing
Knowing Wheat is not our staple is so much fun. I could now use it to tease my mom that Rotis are not what we should be eating. Instead, I want to know what was being used in India. I like the bajra, bejadd, jowar rotis. tell me more.
Yes, I totally agree with your points. I read it somewhere in history books that Wheat is not our staple. But later forgot about it completely. I used to read a lot of history books apart from our studies during my college and school days. Your article bought forward those history-loving days of mine. Thanks for such a sweet reminder.
That’s a good information about wheat. I know lots of vegetables and grains are not originally from India. It’s interesting to know the history about wheat.
This is truly interesting. A number of food items that are Indian staples have not actually originated in India. The world was a global village long before the internet arrived. Looking forward to more such gems from you.
Amazing part of History! Turkey, Mesopotamia and wheat. The Trivia too! There is so much that we don’t know, your posts are very different and carry a great amount of knowledge with clarity
This is such an insightful post about wheats origin..good that I came across your post I could share this information with others
I didnt know wheat wasnt native to India. Since rotis are consumed so much I just assumed that it was an Indan crop – especially the northern part of India. Thanks for sharing this….looking forward to your next one as I always like learning new things.
Thank you so much!
That was such an insightful post. Really enjoyed reading the origins of Wheat & how it became a staple here. Though i had read somewhere about it but ddnt know it in detail.
An interesting and surprising fact about wheat literally widens my eyes, thanks Pushpanjalee for bringing the real origin history of wheat for us. I am definitely going to make my son read your post.
What an interesting and detailed post on wheat. I never knew that wheat was not a native of India. It was an enlightening post. Considering we consume so many items made of wheat, I was surprised that wheat originated in Turkey.
Your point is very correct, we cant imagine a day without wheat chapati. Enjoyed reading so much info regarding Wheat and its origin.
Wheat is a staple in India. It is good to to read about the history of wheat.We cannot imagine days without chapati.
A very enriching post Pushpanjalee. Loved reading about history of wheat and couldn’t believe that wheat is not our own. Keep sharing the wonderful info. ☺
Thank you so much
Astonishing!! Social science was not my favourite subject, but after reading the history of wheat, i am feeling amazed. With your words, you gave us a ride to Turkey, Mesopotamia, Baluchistan, then India. The fact about Rig Veda is like AWW. Thank you for inculcating this knowledge in us.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing these kind words