The Making of A Vegetable Sacrifice
Kusmanda is also mentioned in the Nilamata Purana (sixth-eighth centuries BC) as being a common part of diet in ancient Kashmir (Kasmira). The Pancharatra text, Ishwara Samhita (eight-ninth centuries), refers to the use of kusmanda in offerings or bhog. The text describes ash gourd cooked in hot ghee with powdered peppers and cumin. This is one of the first bhog recipes of ash gourd, a pointer to its significance in the rise of Vaishnava belief, which took precedence over Shakta and Shaiva beliefs and formed the core of Brahminical Hinduism.
