--> Skip to main content


Milk Feeding Cup - Bondla – Jhinuk – Uggu Ginne – Paladai in Hindu Religion

Milk feeding cup in Hindu religion is a simple cup with an elongated snout. It is known as Bondla in Hindi, Jhinuk in Bengal, Uggu Ginne in Telugu and Paladai or Sangadai in Tamil. This was used as a substitute when breastfeeding was not possible due to various reasons. If you wish to have a healthy baby then please throw away the plastic feeding bottles and embrace the milk-feeding cup. This was invented and successfully implemented in ancient Hindu religion thousands of years before the arrival of feeding bottles.

Depending on the financial status of the family, the milk-feeding cup was made out of gold, silver, copper, bronze or brass. Today, there is a renewed interest in the milk-feeding cup and even steel bondla are available in the market.



In a Hindu home, bondla symbolically represented progeny and fertility. It was included among the holy items in the house.

What is noteworthy is that only a few elder members of the family were allowed to handle the milk-feeding cup. After use, it was thoroughly cleaned and kept in a secluded area.

The cup was also used in administering medicines and other liquids to infants and children.

The milk-feeding cup invented by Hindus had a unique shape. It was a deep cup, which had a groove like open spout with thick edges on one side and a handle on the other end. The design of the cup was such that liquid in it will not spill over when it was tilted to feed the baby. The cup rested on a round tubular base. The entire design of the cup was baby friendly with no sharp edges. It was easy to clean.
The traditional milk-feeding cup is no longer to be seen in a Hindu household. It has been replaced by plastic bottles – one of the main reasons for the poor health of many infants.

The good old milk-feeding cup invented by Hindus had numerous benefits. The greatest benefit of it was that it was healthy, baby friendly and easy to use.



Hindus invented many simple things, which were highly useful. We Hindus ignored everything that was invented by our ancestors. Inventions of our ancestors were not for profit but for the welfare of the entire humanity.

Without giving much thought, we replaced Bondla with plastic bottles. No one knows whether food grade plastic is used to make bottle, nipple, and cap that we buy for our babies. There is no proper authority to check what is sold in the market in India. We wake up only when there is a big health scare.

Plastic bottles, nipple and the other accessories that are part of it need to be sterilized frequently.

Anyone who has used a feeding bottle knows how difficult it is to manage them.

Bottle-feeding babies increases the risk of catching infections. They contain harmful chemicals.
Bottle feeds are one of the major causes of diarrhea in infants.

Many parents reuse the bottle without sterilizing it and this increases the risk of infection. Bacteria and other microorganisms stick on the neck and teat of the bottle and transmit to the infant with reuse of the bottle.

Personal Opinion
My two children never used milk-feeding bottles. They never had diarrhea or other infections.

Positive Note
Milk-feeding cup is slowly making a comeback. Doctors and health specialists have started advising against the use of feeding bottles. Recently, Annal Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, gave mothers ancient milk-feeding cup as a takeaway gift.

Image source – ykantiques.