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: 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
[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
Indeed food is therapeutic and i m fond of this therapy
ReplyDeleteIndeed any food taken after offering 🫴 to Almighty....become prasad and get therapeutic
ReplyDelete