Food · Niglihawa
Sugarcane country and a glass of fresh ras
A short stop in the cane fields of northern Kapilvastu, where the pillar may once have been used as a cane roller, followed by a glass of freshly pressed sugarcane juice with ginger and lemon at a roadside stall.
Sugarcane is one of the main crops around Niglihawa, and from late winter the fields are tall and the tractors piled high on their way to the mills. The writer Charles Allen even suggested the top of the Niglihawa pillar was once reused as a roller to crush cane, a guess, but one that fits the landscape.
We stop at a cane field near the pillar to see the crop up close, then at a juice stall on the way to Taulihawa or Lumbini. The stall owner feeds stalks through a roller with a slice of ginger and lemon, and serves the juice cold and green-gold in a glass.
It is a small pleasure, and the best antidote to a hot Kapilvastu afternoon.
Good for
Questions
Is sugarcane juice safe to drink in Nepal?
Freshly pressed juice from a clean machine is usually fine, but ice may be made from untreated water. Ask for it without ice, and choose busy stalls where the roller is washed between batches. Our guides use stalls they trust. Avoid it if you have a very sensitive stomach.
When is sugarcane in season around Lumbini?
Cane is harvested and crushed mainly from about November to April in the western Terai, with juice stalls busiest from February to June when the weather turns hot. Fields stand tall from late summer through winter. Timing varies with mills and weather.
Was the Niglihawa pillar really used to crush sugarcane?
Nobody knows. The writer Charles Allen proposed that after the upper part of the pillar broke, the inscribed section was moved and perhaps used as a roller for crushing sugarcane. It is a suggestion, not a proven fact, but it would explain why the pillar was found away from its base.
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