Jagannatha, the Foodie God?

Leela Purush

Vaikunth is Vishnu’s permanent celestial abode, all His manifestations on earth are part of His leela or sport, and each earthly form (avatars and other manifestations) has a specific function or aspect, believe the Hindus. This is most vividly illustrated at the four sacred Dhams - He is bathing at Rameshwaram (Snana murti), ruling at Dvaraka (Dvarakadheesh), dining at Puri (Chappan Bhogi Jagannatha), and at sleep in Badrinath (Shayana murti).

(Jagannatha Patta Chitra, Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Jagannatha: Chappan Bhogi

A foodie is a person who loves food and savours different types of food; but Jagannatha is not a person, He is the Lord of the Universe, and may not therefore be called a foodie. Rather, He is the connoisseur of food who inspired and shaped the unique Odia culinary culture. No other cuisine is as nutritious, delicious, and variegated as Odia cuisine. The dishes and recipes are so complex and take so much time to prepare and cook that the routine of most Odia homes revolves around the several meals that must be enjoyed daily; just as Jagannatha’s six meals a day constitute the core of the daily rituals at Shreemandira.

Jagannatha is Chappan Bhogi, the God who must be served 56 dishes daily; and not in meagre helpings but the mandatory sixty pauties (about two quintals of food).

As per a legend, Nilamadhava tells Vishwavasu, his original Shabara worshipper that He is tired of the daily serving of fruits and roots, and is moving over to Puri where the king would surely serve Raj Bhog, meals fit for God. Maybe, this legend signals human civilisation’s transition from hunting-gathering phase to settled agriculture.  

Chappan Bhog

Which dishes constitute the chappan bhog? The full list is at shreekhetra.com, but there are other lists which may be a bit different.

Here is a summary of the number of dishes category-wise:

·      Rice preparations: 9 of which 4 are pakhala or rice-in-water, such a favourite dish for Odias that Pakhala Dibasa[i] is celebrated every year on March 24. Ask an Odia to choose between fine dining at a famed restaurant and a true pakhala meal served with the assorted accompaniments; every time she would go for pakhala, the meal that soothes the soul.

·      Sweets: 11 including khaja, gaja, laddoo, khuruma. No wonder, Odias have a sweet tooth, and have patented Odia Rasagola to differentiate from the copy-cat Bengali Rosogulla. Upon return from Rath Yatra when an angry Lakshmi refuses to open the doors to Shreemandira, Jagannatha pacifies her by offering a pot full of succulent, melt-in-mouth rasagolas. The way to a woman’s heart is through her mouth, surely in Odisha!

·      Cakes, Pancakes, and Patties: 13 including the famous poda pitha (Nayagarh poda pitha is available at Jagannatha Mandir, Hauz Khas, New Delhi!), manda, arisa, kakara, puri, luchi, bara, dahibara. These dishes are cooked by a dedicated group of Suaras (the traditional, authorised cooks) named Pitha Suaras.

·      Milk preparations: 9 including khiri, rasavali (mini rasagulas), malpua, sarapuli.

·      Dal, Curries, and other dishes: 14, including mitha dali (dal is loaded with sugar not only by Gujaratis!), biri (urad) dali, muga (moong) dali, the famous Dalma (so famous is this dish that there is now a popular Dalma chain of eateries; they serve spicy crab curries and roasted tiger prawn, too!), mahura, besara, saga (leutia, koshala, and other green leaves), potala rasa, ooti baigana, khata, raita, pita (made with fried neem flowers), baigini (fried eggplants or begun bhaja for Bengalis)

A Seventh Meal

With the onset of Pausha, from Dhanu Sankranti to Makara Sankranti, an additional meal Pahili Bhoga is offered to Jagannatha and his siblings before sunrise. As per a legend, Mahalakshmi spends the whole month of Pausa at her father’s palace owing to which Ma Yashoda takes charge of Shreemandira kitchen. She herself cooks a delicious khichdi for the Pahili Bhoga. Maybe, the concerned mother was worried about Mahalakshmi not paying enough attention to the nutritional needs of Jagannatha and others! Upon her return to Shreemandira, Mahalakshmi rescinds the Pahili Bhoga, in a gentle reprimand to mother-in-law.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Mahaprasad is prepared by Suaras, the hereditary cooks; using only indigenous ingredients (no potato, asparagus, or chilli, for example); in clay pots made by hereditary kumbhars; in wood-fired chulhas; and in a unique steam-cooking method. It is high-time, therefore, for Odisha to urge UNESCO to declare Mahaprasad as Jagannatha Heritage Food; and obtain GI Tags for all the dishes of Chappan Bhog from Government of India’s Patent Office.

Puri Ratha Yatra must also be declared as an Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of humanity by UNESCO; Kumbh Mela, Kolkata’s Durga Puja, Gujrat’s Garba, and Manipur’s Sankirtan are already in the ICH list.

Is Chappan Bhog healthy?

Chappan Bhog is no doubt delicious, but is it healthy diet? Well, Jagannatha atones for his excesses by a month-long detox during which he abjures cooked meals and partakes a therapeutic diet comprising fruits, roots, and herbal drinks. He is also administered Dashamularista, a concoction of ten herbal roots!

Who eats God’s Food?

Not Jagannatha, nor the other deities. The devotees and the pandas, who else?

The total capacity of all the eateries in Puri falls far short of the needs of the large number of pilgrims, and hence Jagannatha devised his unique kitchen and catering arrangement to feed his devotees.

During Rath Yatra, the devotees have darshan of the chaturdha murti, and involuntary darshan of well-fed, corpulent pandas often obscuring a clear vision of the deities. Jagannatha surely is benevolent to the pandas, his caretakers! Does the rich diet adversely affect their health? It is not known if any study has indicated higher prevalence of diabetes, or heart-related issues for the pandas.

The privileges that the servitors of God enjoy are well-known, but De ke dekhei dehri khae, an old Sambalpuri proverb makes a candid, brutally honest, and acerbic comment on the matter. De is god, dehri the panda, and the literal meaning of the proverb is – the Panda eats the food after placing it before god for his perusal. Everyone knows that idols of metal or stone do not eat food, but how could the devotees bear to keep the gods hungry?  

Odia Culinary Culture

Most Odias are compulsive foodies, their culinary habits possibly embedded in their genes. But why blame the Odias, Jagannatha made them foodies. Since their Supreme God demanded a series of lavish meals during his long day which stretched from dawn till midnight, what could the devout, god-fearing race do except invent and serve dishes unheard of elsewhere in India and the world? How could they serve any dish without confirming whether it tasted heavenly or not? Every dish must have been perfected after years of trial and refinement, the ingredients laid down, and the recipes frozen. All Suara homes specialised on their respective dishes – bhata, dali, tarkari, pitha, mitha, and others. Millions of devotees tasted these dishes over centuries, and affixed their stamp of approval after which these recipes spread to all of Odisha in due course. That is how Jagannatha created and popularised the unique culinary culture of Odisha.

In a typical Odia home, the very first question in the morning the man and master asks is: aji khaibaku kana heba (what dishes will be cooked today?). The perfect housewife would have already planned it the day before, for many dishes need much advance preparation (chakuli, poda pitha, dahi bara, arisa, manda pitha, etc); and she would reel off the menu for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, early evening snack, and dinner including the dessert and the side dishes. Delighted, the man would resume reading The Samaja (in the olden times) or The Sambada, maybe, now.

Anna Brahma

Anna or food is the basic energy that sustains all life (annat prana), and is therefore venerated as god. There are several Sanskrit chants about the centrality and significance of food in life. Food impacts mood and conduct, too, and therefore categorised as sattvik, rajasic, and tamasic.

Food is also therapeutic. In my previous blogs on Radha’s Diet Therapy[ii], I had discussed how each dish of her special menu reminds Radha of Krishna, making food a tool for meditation and prayer. Food need not make a person a glutton; it can also nourish the soul.

Comments

N.P. Upadhyay

N.P. Upadhyay, an erudite scholar and author sent me his comments:

"At Nathdwara, Shreenathji is offered Chhappan Bhog and there is extensive  literature about it including lists and the methods of prepration. Also, fabulous miniature paintings and murals  of Chhappan Bhog were done by artists of Nathdwara, Kota and Jhalawad. In an  18th CE painting of Chhappan Bhog in the assimilated style of Jaipur and Kishangarh, the number of items can be counted.,This painting is in National Museum, New Delhi.

The vaishnavas celebrate Annakoot (a religious feast ), prepare fifty six food items and offer them to Lord Krishna as Chhappan Bhog."

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[i] For more about pakhala, here is the link for my previous blog:

https://pkdash-author.blogspot.com/2023/03/pakhala-dibasa.html

[ii] Links for my previous blogs:

Radha’s Diet Therapy: Part I -

https://pkdash-author.blogspot.com/2023/10/radhas-soul-food-thus-sang-radha.html

Radha’s Diet Therapy: Part II –

https://pkdash-author.blogspot.com/2023/10/radhas-soul-food-part-ii.html