Skip to main content

Food for the Gods – Chappan Bhog and more

Eateratti this time is going to give you a peek-view into the food that was meant for Gods.For the first time in my life, I witnessed the scale of spiritual dimension of food up-close. As a part of the Deewali Festivities (one of the most important Hindu Festivals), Annakoot Utsav was celebrated with opulence by my in-laws. Annakoot literally means a mountain of food, where at least 56 different varieties or ‘chappan bhog’ is prepared and offer it to Lord Krishna. I had seen this, once at the Iskcon Temple, but this one was celebrated at home!!
Finishing touches to the offering being added by Mom-in law


The idea is to invite Lord Krishna or Thakurji in to our homes & offer him gratitude in the form of food, for everything that he has been blessing us with. Therefore, every single item that’s offered to Lord Krishna or Thakurji is hand-made at home for which, weeks of preparation was devotedly put in by my mom-in law, her sister-in law my Aunt Sonal Kaki and their mother –in law whose is my Dadi. Since I am a newbie in the clan, I offered what I termed as ‘intern’s support’.The idols are dressed fineries with bright clothes & lots of ornaments.


Thakurji is his fineries
The significance of 56 offerings? Like the lotus has eight petals, surrounded by 16 and then 32, which makes it 56, it is this symbol that makes the count. But as the many ‘gopikas’ who brought different offerings for Krishna, the ‘bhog’ can therefore be more than 56 and in our case my mental count when arranging the food had touched almost 70 -75 main items.



The Bhog also needs to be arranged in a definite sequence; with milk and milk products arranged the closest to him. So all sweets containing milk, dry fruits are arranged first. This confirms the fact that, indeed sweets are divine & the 1st preference of Thakurji himself. Second, when Gods can begin their meals with Sweets, it hence forth is acceptable for us to also have sweets first, and there is no need to wait till deserts arrive!!

This is followed by Besan items and then the salty food of rice, vegetables, curries etc.



Kudos to the effort put in by the ladies of the Gandhi family where along with tradition, a touch of creativity was also added to the food offering with sweets shaped as fruits.


The other exciting aspect of such festivals is the coming together of people, and that day,close to 35-37 members of our family and friends came over to have the bhog Prasad.



Now putting together 56 and more items wasn’t the only challenge, but accommodating them into a single plate is even more daunting, but here is my brother-in law Sahil, doing an excellent job.

For some, food is all about survival, for few it associates with their heart & soul and not just stomach. However, religious merits of food just cannot be ignored as food finds a very sacred space in the world of worship.Pick up any religion across the world and somewhere you'll find that food will play a role where it weaves rituals, people and faith together.

Comments

  1. Brilliantly written with detailed description provided for the entire procedure. Kudos for giving us such an insight of the illustrious ab tak 56 bhog :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aww...thanks rishi...coming soon will be some select recipes from these :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awesome... good description of 56 bhog .... It really requires dedication ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice write up Meethali...quite informative! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loved the detailing.. Awesome :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To TIP or not to TIP

As a kid every time I accompanied my dad to good old humble restaurants, I would linger behind a few seconds till he left the table, to quickly grab the coins that he would place in the sauf bowl (I thought he forgot the money & once when I reminded him, all he said was ‘that’s ok’, so I ensured his money was safe with me, you see). So this assured source of income for my piggy bank continued, till the day he caught me picking the coins (damn my timing!!).That’s when he introduced me to the concept of tipping, that we should leave behind some money for the waiters who served us. However, the last couple of years, our bills have seen a 5 to 12 per cent ‘service charge’ added to it, leaving us confused with the question ‘to tip or not to tip’. Some say its goes to the Government and some say it doesn’t. So here in my next blog, I decided to decode the mystery of the Service Charge for you. Your bill will predominantly contain VAT and service tax (which is applicable to restaurants ha...

Being @ Chennai

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while now but somehow got caught into a series of events. Anyways, about a month ago one of my roomies, Swati left for her hometown for good. Over dinner, a common friend of ours who has been struggling to get a transfer out of Chennai, congratulated her and jokingly said “Tere paap dhul gaye aur tu Chennai se ja rahi hai” meaning that your sins have got erased and so you are leaving Chennai. We all laughed at this statement, but I quietly wondered if Chennai is really that bad. I distinctly remember how scandalized my friends were I broke the news that I had got my posting in Chennai. Some of them actually told me that I was out of my mind that I agreed to go to Chennai. Most of their concerns were actually revolved around the fact that after living all my life in a city like Mumbai, it would be exceedingly unimaginable to stay in Chennai and suspected that the place and its culture would be harsh on me. Honestly, in a way it scared me a bi...