Place Of Origin

The origin of dosa is still unclear to historians. There is a split of opinion regarding its origin into two places- Udupi in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

According to the historian P. Thankappan Nair, dosa originated in the coastal town Udupi in Karnataka. One of the reasons that people believe that dosa originated in Udupi is because the dish was popularised in the rest of the country through Udupi restaurants. But what really strengthens the theory Dosa having originated in Karnataka is that its recipe can be found in a 12th century Sanskrit text “Manasollasa” which was composed by the Chalukya ruler Someshwara III who ruled over the Karnataka region.

Food historian and nutritionist K. T. Achaya claims that dosa (called Thosai in the past in Tamil Nadu) originated from Tamil Nadu and its mentioning can be found in the Sangam Literature and be dated to 1st century AD, although this date is debatable as some claim it to be 1st century AD, some claim 600 AD and some 1000 AD.

How It Originated

A different aspect of the origin of dosa is not the place but the story about how it came into existence. One story of the origin is that of a Brahmin Adiga (cook). Brahmin's are not allowed to consume alcohol, but to get around this once a brahmin adiga tried to make his own alcohol by fermenting rice, but it did not work, so he poured it out onto a pan to make a “crepe”. Now "Dosha" in kannada means sin, and hence this attempt of a Brahmin trying to consume alcohol was named dosha, which later turned into dosa. The word Chata means bad habit in kannada, and a sin is followed by a bad habit. So "dosa with chatni” or “dosha mattu chata” meaning “a sin accompanied by a bad habit” became a regular meal.

One very funny thing is that to define a dosa, most websites refer to it as a crepe, however crepes came much later into existence.