Tradition · sweet
Imarti
/ɪməɾt̪iː/
Also known as Imartī, Amriti, Omriti, Jaangiri, Jangiri, Emarti, Jaunpur Imarti
Imarti is a syrup-soaked sweet of fermented black-gram (urad dal) batter, piped into hot ghee as a ring with a scalloped, flower-like border: jalebi's look-alike, but made from pulse rather than refined flour. Its southern name, jangiri, is popularly read as 'Jahangir', and newspaper features call it a favourite of that Mughal emperor, though none cites a Mughal source. Jaunpur, where Beniram's shop has made it since the mid-nineteenth century, registered it as a Geographical Indication in 2023–24.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Material
- black gram (urad dal) batter, ghee, sugar syrup, saffron
- Confidence
- Traditional / narrative attribution — The sweet and its Jaunpur trade are documented; the Jahangir connection is a popular attribution resting on the name jangiri.
Worth knowing
Beniram, who founded Jaunpur's oldest imarti shop, was a postal clerk; his descendants say his British officer tasted his imartis, told him to open a shop instead and gave him a year's leave to do it. The older shop stands beside the Shahi Pul, a bridge built in Akbar's reign.
The Jahangir link rests on the name jangiri and on two newspaper features (Times of India 2009; Deccan Herald 2013) that cite no Mughal text, cook or date, and no source consulted connects the sweet to his years as Prince Salim. The Times of India's further claim that Jahangir brought the jalebi to India is contradicted by a Sanskrit mention of jalebi around 1450, long before his reign (1605–1627). The Hindu (2019) argues instead for an old Indian origin, citing the Sanskrit name sudha kundalika.
Connections (3)
- Traditional linkJahangir
A popular attribution, not a documented one. Imarti's southern name, jangiri or jaangiri, is read as a corruption of Jahangir: a 2009 Times of India feature called it the closest the jalebi family comes to being named after the emperor, and a 2013 Deccan Herald piece called imarti a favourite treat of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Neither names a Mughal text, cook, recipe or date, and no source consulted ties the sweet to his years as Prince Salim. Jahangir reigned from 1605 to 1627.
- AnalogueJalebi
Imarti and jalebi are the same idea in different materials. Both are batter piped into hot fat and dropped into syrup, but jalebi uses refined flour and is laid down as a continuous chain of loops, while imarti uses fermented urad dal with a little rice flour and is made as single flowers, a ring with a scalloped border piped over it. Northern imartis are drained and drier. Sangeeta Khanna argues the pulse batter marks imarti as Indian in origin, unlike the jalebi from West Asia.
- Craft tradition ofJaunpur Sharqi ensemble
Jaunpur is the town best known for imarti, and 'Jaunpur Imarti' was registered as a Geographical Indication in 2023–24. Its oldest surviving maker, Beniram's, has one shop at Olandgunj and an older one beside the Shahi Pul, the bridge built in Akbar's reign. The fourth-generation owner, Rakesh Modanwal, says the recipe is unchanged since his ancestor began in the mid-nineteenth century: green-skinned urad dal, pure ghee and purified raw sugar, with no colouring, which leaves the imartis dull brown.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Imarti" and "Geographical indications in India". Sangeeta Khanna, "Beniram is a 200-year-old shop selling Imarti in Jaunpur", The Hindu (12 July 2019). "Jalebi khani hai?", Times of India (7 January 2009). Dhanvanti Keshavrao, "A sweet tale of an exotic dessert", Deccan Herald (6 July 2013).
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