{{Short description|Traditional Indian medicine}} thumb|260x260px|A small quantity of lekiyam served in a bowl. '''Lehyam''' ({{Langx|sa|लेह्य|lit=food to be licked|translit=Lēhya}}),<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2018-05-27 |title=Lehya, Lēhya: 12 definitions |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/lehya |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref> also referred to as '''Lekiyam''' ({{Langx|ta|லேகியம்|translit=Lēkiyam}}) refers to a traditional Indian electuary or confection.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weiss |first=Richard S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoA8DwAAQBAJ&dq=lehyam+siddha&pg=PA85 |title=Recipes for Immortality: Healing, Religion, and Community in South India |date=2009-02-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-533523-1 |pages=85 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rao |first=Saligrama Krishna Ramachandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QRvzRGn9QqkC&dq=lehyam+south+india&pg=PA92 |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine |date=2005 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7154-255-0 |pages=92 |language=en}}</ref>
== Classification == Classified as a product of Siddha medicine, lehyam is regarded to be a healthy body tonic, consumed to resolve digestive and respiratory problems, comprising ingredients that are easily absorbed by the body.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Saikat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YtGuDwAAQBAJ&dq=lehyam+medicine&pg=PA17 |title=Herbal Medicine in India: Indigenous Knowledge, Practice, Innovation and its Value |last2=Chakraborty |first2=Raja |date=2019-09-10 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-13-7248-3 |pages=17–18 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
== Ingredients and preparation == thumb|A ball of inji (ginger) lehyam upon a palm. Lehyam is prepared using powdered medicine, jaggery, sugar, honey, in an aqueous medium of water. Ghee is often added as a preserving agent, and after preparation, the food may be rolled into small balls and left to harden within a vessel, edible for up to a year.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hollen |first=Cecilia Van |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXQLniMFVbIC&dq=lekiyam+siddha&pg=PA259 |title=Birth on the Threshold: Childbirth and Modernity in South India |date=2003-10-16 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22359-2 |pages=259 |language=en}}</ref>
== Variations and uses == Various forms of lehyam exist, and are named for their ingredients, and offer different properties. For instance, in Tamil Nadu, ''inji lekiyam'', for which the salient ingredient is ginger, is offered to a new mother shortly after her delivery.<ref>{{Cite book |last=General |first=India Office of the Registrar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SrTUAAAAMAAJ&q=inji+lekiyam |title=Census of India, 1961 |date=1962 |publisher=Manager of Publications |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref> ''Thaneervittan'' (type of asparagus called shatavari) ''legiyam'' and ''sowbhagiyasundi'' (dry ginger powder) ''legiyam'' are used similarly.<ref name=":2" /> ''Nellikai lekiyam'', for which the salient ingredient is star gooseberry, is offered to children to boost their immunity.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=MD(S) |first1=Dr P. Mirunaleni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlsVEAAAQBAJ&dq=nellikai+legiyam&pg=PA31 |title=TRADITIONAL PARENTING - PARENTING IN A SIDDHA WAY |last2=B.S.M.S |first2=Dr S. Dhivyabharathi |last3=MD(S) |first3=Dr B. Shalini |date=2021-01-19 |publisher=Darshan Publishers |isbn=978-93-86739-51-3 |pages=16, 31 |language=en}}</ref>
In South India, lehyam is often prepared and purchased on the occasion of Deepavali to aid the digestion, and counteract the effects, of eating sweets during the festival.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-10-28 |title=Making of the legiyam |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/For-the-love-of-legiyam/article16084496.ece |access-date=2022-10-21 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> According to ''The Hindu'', Deepavali legiyam, or Deepavali marundhu, is popular in Chennai, and made in many households at festival time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Srinivasan |first=Shenbagalakshmi |date=2015-11-05 |title=How to make… Deepavali legiyam |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/how-to-make-deepavali-legiyam/article7845876.ece |access-date=2022-10-25 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
''Ciṭṭukkuruvi lēkiyam'', prepared from sparrow meat, was once consumed for aphrodisiacal purposes.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Susainathan, P. |year=1921 |title=Bird friends and foes of the farmer. Bulletin No. 81 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219743/page/n38/mode/1up |publisher=Department of Agriculture |page=22 |authorlink=P.S. Nathan |place=Madras}}</ref>
== See also ==
* Traditional medicine of India
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Ayurveda Category:Siddha medicine Category:Diwali Category:Traditional medicine in India