Varuni, the goddess of wine, churned out of the ocean of milk, joined Indra and transformed Swarga into paradise. So say the Puranas. However, very little is mentioned about Varuni in popular lore. Scholars believe this was grape wine imported in vast quantities from Rome to the western coast of India around 2000 years ago.
Popular Hinduism has tried to give the impression that religions, like Buddhism and Jainism, have been opposed to the consumption of intoxicants. Nothing can be further from the truth. Toddy, mahua, cannabis and opium have formed an integral part of civilization. The British, however, had a different approach. They found it easier to tax consumption of hard alcohol as opposed to homemade brews of other types of alcohol.
