Sexuality and desire are intimately connected to food and the belief that certain foods can enhance sex and sexual prowess is ancient. The limitless ardour to find and consume aphrodisiacs highlights humankind’s search for the essence of life. Attitudes towards sex, procreation, gender, religion, caste, class, and pleasure determine which foods are considered to be aphrodisiacs.
In February 1862, some vigilant citizens of Pune noticed a strange activity along the banks of the Mutha River. They promptly approached the editor of the Marathi newspaper “Dnyanaprakash” who published a small note on February 18. Some men, young and old, had been sneaking out of their homes after sunset to visit a man living on the city’s outskirts.
The newspaper and the vigilantes thought this was suspicious and hoped that the authorities would investigate the matter. A week later, in the next issue, “Dnyanaprakash” wrote that it had sent a representative to make enquiries and had some information to share with its readers. The man was a Hindu from Burdwan in Bengal who had been in Pune for over a month.
He had erected a tent on the banks of the river and lived there with a dog who accompanied him. He claimed to know about ancient medicine. “Dnyanaprakash”, however, speculated that its representative thought that the man indulged in Tantric rituals.
Men were flocking to the man from Bengal because he claimed to cure impotency and increase virility. The man had stored his medicine in.