"Divine" Dishes

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

,

”Divine” Dishes

 

Every one of us is extremely partial to some item of food or the

other. For some of us, it is mostly generic, with a liking, say, for

sweets in any shape or form. Some with an extremely sweet tooth, for

instance, would consume even raw sugar. Some others’

fascination is confined to a specific sweet, say, for instance, the

MysorepAk. Their infatuation doesn’t extend to other

preparations. Yet others can’t stand sweets in any form and

prefer savoury preparations instead. These likes and dislikes extend

to specific items of food too, with some hanging their tongues out in

anticipation of the veN Pongal that is served as prasAdam during

Margazhi, while some can’t stand the sight of the Brinjal (egg

plant). These attractions and aversions are formed during childhood

itself, with our developing taste and distaste for specific items of

food or “BhakshaNam”. I remember a person who used to

travel miles to have a taste of my mother’s “Paruppu

usili”—such is the extent to which we let our palates

rule us.

 

At times I wonder whether we are a race who delight in consuming

sweets and savouries by the tonne, on the pretext of celebrating

various festivals. If only we turn our thoughts to it, we would find

that all our festivities invariably end in a sumptuous treat to the

stomach. Be it secular festivals or those based on a specific divine

event like the birthday of the Lord in His various forms, they are

invariably accompanied by tasty preparations. The best of the lot, of

course, is Sri Jayanti, for which 18 different types of BhakshaNam are

prepared. As children, we used to look forward to Sri Jayanti so much,

for the opportunity it afforded for us to gorge ourselves with our

favourite dishes. This was next in popularity only to Deepavali,

which had the added attraction of crackers new clothes.

 

Are we such gluttons to feast ourselves on various delicacies at the

slightest excuse, or does the practice stem from other reasons than

our own partiality for food in any and every form?

 

As in other matters, here too the Scripture comes to our rescue with a ready answer.

 

It is because the Lord likes these gourmet items that we prepare them

and, after offering the same to Him, consume them as His prasAdam.

This is not a specious excuse to indulge our fancy for food, but the

gospel truth as enunciated by Azhwars. We find that the Lord does

have favourite items of food and snacks, which His mothers, devotees

and acolytes have offered Him traditionally. In many of His avataras,

the Lord has displayed partiality to certain items of food and drink,

which has been faithfully chronicled by the Scripture.

 

Let us take Sri Krishna first—for, whenever we think of eating,

drinking and being merry, it is the Kutti Krishna who comes to our

mind. The gallons of milk and curds He must have consumed and the

tonnes of butter He must have stolen and partaken of in the

boisterous company of His cohorts, would indeed defy quantification.

“pottha uralai kavizhtthu adan mEl Eri

tittittha pAlum tadAvinil veNNaiyum

mettha tiru vayirAra vizhungiya

attan vandu ennai puram pulguvAn EmpirAn ennai puram pulguvAn”

Says His biographer Sri PeriyAzhwar, telling us how the Boy Wonder

used to reach vessels of milk, curds and butter hung up high from the

ceilings and fill His capacious stomach with these dairy products.

Apart from an insatiable appetite for milk and its derivatives, Sri

Krishna is also a gourmet, with a taste for choice delicacies, if

Azhwar is to be believed. He is extremely fond of

“appam”, which Sri Yasoda uses as a bait for enticing the

Divine Toddler to have His ears pierced—

 

“pErtthum periya appam taruvan PirAnE!….nee ingE vArAi”

 

Not any common appam, but a big one is what Sri Krishna

likes—“periya appam”. And another type of appam the

Lord is fond of is the one boiled in sweet milk—

 

“appam kalanda chittruNdi akkAram pAlil kalandu

soppada nAn suttu vaitthEn tinnal urudiyEl Nambi!”

 

It can be observed that Azhwar speaks of “ChittruruNdai”,

known today as the “Seeyan”.

One more delicacy the Lord is extremely fond of is the

“Seedai”, the small balls of flour mixed with butter and

fried in oil, which provide Him a nice change from His staple food of

sweets. Even this item, the Lord likes in two forms, one the

“uppu seedai” which is a savoury and the other, the

“Vella seedai”, a sweet.

 

It would appear that anything mixed with jaggery or sugar is pleasing

to Sri Krishna—even mere grains of sesame. Thus

“eLLurundai” or balls of sesame dipped in jaggery syrup,

are His favourites. For those who don’t believe the aforesaid

about the “Seedai” and “eLLurundai”, here are

the lines from Sri Vishnuchitta’s pasuram, incorporating Sri

Yasoda’s bid to woo Sri Krishna with promises of these

delicacies—

 

“Kannalil attuvatthOdu seedai kAr eLLin uNdai kalatthilittu

ennagam endru nAn vaitthu pOndEn ivan pukku avattrai perutthi pOndAn”

 

Who said that Sri Krishna stole only milk and butter? No item of food,

especially the tasty tidbits, is proof from pinching or pilfering by

the Lord, as is evident from the aforesaid pasuram.

 

After a sumptuous partaking of various types of

“BhakshaNam”, what does the Lord have for dessert?

Fruits of different hues and tastes, of course. Of the latter

variety, the Jack Fruit is His one of His favourites. We get to know

this from Sri Yasoda’s offer of the fruit to Sri Krishna, as an

incentive for His consenting to have His ears pierced—

 

“Ik kadippu ittAl iniya palA pazham tandu kaNa nandraNi mulai uNna taruvan”

 

The “nAval pazham” is another of His favourites, says Sri Periyazhwar—

“nAval pazham koNdu vaitthEn”.

 

Also, it would appear that the more sour the fruits, the greater is

the Lord’s liking for them—the product of the Tamarind

Tree (“PuLiyam pinju”), the fruit of the Cane tree

(“Pirappam pazham”), the “KaLAkkAi”—all

of these are indeed tasty tidbits for the Lord.

 

It is all these items, which, till today, form the offering to the

Lord on His birthday—the Krishna Jayanti. It is the culinary

traditions set by Sri Yasoda, as confirmed by Sri Periyazhwar, that

we follow till date, in deciding what delicacies are to be offered to

Him. Thus the “Murukku”, “tEn kuzhal”,

“atirasam”, Vella Seedai”, “uppu

Seedai”, “ManOharam”, “ManOnbu”,

“SOmAsi”, “Tattai”, “laddu”,

“appam”, “Seeyan”, various uruNdais from

“poruviLangA urundai”, “Ravai uruNdai”,

“Payattha uruNdai” etc.—all these eighteen types of

preparations form the menu for the Lord’s feast on Sri Jayanti

till today, in conformity with the hoary traditions set by Yasoda

Piraatti. And, to ensure that the Kutti Krishnan doesn’t

develop indigestion from all these culinary marvels, we also offer

Him “Chukku vellam” as a digestive pill. This is indeed

laughable, for, would the Lord who swallows and houses all the worlds

in His spacious stomach during the Cosmic Deluge

(“Pralayam”), develop indigestion merely due to a few

sweets and snacks? It is Yasoda’s motherly love and not the

Lord’s need for a digestive enzyme, that makes Her offer

“Chukku Vellam” to the “ulagam uNda peru

vAyan”.

 

In comparison with Sri Krishna, who appears to be a gourmet and

connoisseur, Sri Rama seems to have been an Emperuman with fairly

simple tastes. He appears to have been extremely satisfied with the

common jungle fruits offered with love by Sri Sabhari and the

millets, honey etc. submitted with devotion by Sri Guha Perumal. It

is true that Sri BharadvAja Maharshi treated Him to a sumptuous feast

at the end of His vanavAsam, but throughout His fourteen years in the

forest, Sri Raghunandana appears to have eaten little but fruits and

roots. This is perhaps the reason for the extremely simple

traditional offering of diluted butter milk (“neer more”)

“pAnakam” and “vadai paruppu” on the day of

Sri Rama Navami. Considering the relatively simple fare that is

offered to Sri Rama, don’t you think it is a misnomer to call a

person fond of food as “SAppAttu Raman”?

 

The favourite drink of Sri Nrsimha appears to be water mixed with

jaggery—“PAnakam”. Whichever sannidhi we go to, we

find this Lion God propitiated with “PAnakam”. Till

today, there is the tradition of offering this sweetened water every

evening to Sri MAlOla, at the Sri Ahobila Matham. And you must have

heard of the “PAnaka Nrisimhan” in Andhra Pradesh, who,

irrespective of the quantity of “PAnakam” poured into His

cavernous mouth, accepts half the offering and returns the other half

as prAsadam, signifying His insatiable appetite for this drink.

 

Akin to their counterparts in the Vibhava avatArAs, many of the

moorthies in the arcchAvatAra, reigning splendorously at the numerous

sannidhis, have predilections for certain types of food, snacks or

drinks.

 

We thus come to know of Sri TirumAlirum SOlai azhagar’s liking

for “akkAra adisil”, from Sri Andal’s

pasuram—

 

“nAru narum pozhil Malirum sOlai nambikku nAn

nooru tadA nirainda akkAra adisil sonnEn”

 

Tradition has it that though Sri Andal spoke of offering a hundred

cauldrons full of this delicacy to the azhagar PirAn, it was Sri

Ramanuja who actually made it a reality.

 

The moment we think of Tirumala, whether Srinivasa comes to our mind

or not, it is the “laddu” and “vadai”

(principally the former) which spring to our thoughts. By the vast

quantities of “laddu” that is offered as prasAdam to the

thousands of devotees visiting Tirumala, it is obvious that this Lord

is extremely enamoured of this delicacy. It doesn’t need a

gourmet to discern the extraordinary taste and delight that only the

Tirupati laddu can afford to our taste buds. You may make the

“laddu” at home with the costliest and choicest of

high-quality ingredients, but its taste would never equal that of the

Tirumala product, the difference being due to the latter being

Bhagavat PrasAdam while the former is merely a product of our

kitchen.

 

Similarly, Sri Parthasarathi of TiruvallikkENi appears to be fond of

Sakkarai Pongal. Devotees who have tasted this delicacy at this

Sannidhi would attest to its conforming to the standards set for the

same by Sri KOdai Naachiar—“pAl sOru mooda nei peidu

muzhangai vazhi vAra”. And it is a hoary tradition to offer the

Lord Sakkarai Pongal on the days in MArgazhi on which the pAsurams

“nAyakanAi nindra nandagOpan” and “KoodArai vellum

seer GovindA!” are recited.

 

The TiruppullANi Emperuman’s favourite dish is the “pAl

pAyasam”, a milk-based preparation with a divine taste indeed.

 

Sri Sowmya nArayaNa PerumAL of TirukkOshithiyUr likes “KalkaNdu

sAdam”, which is a rare delicacy to be offered only to this

Emperuman, especially during His TeppOtsavam during MAsi mAsam.

 

In tune with His preeminence, the Sleeping Lord of Srirangam consumes

daily an astonishing variety of “BhakshaNams”, including

the rather strange one of “ROti”, the latter as a

concession to the Tulukka NachiAr, the Muslim princess who became one

of His Consorts, reflecting the universal appeal, cutting across

faiths, that the boundless beauty and auspicious attributes of Sri

Ranganatha have. Sri Ranga nAcchiAr likes “Putu”, as is

evident from the frequency with which it is offered to Her.

 

Salt is supposed to be the basic seasoning for all eatables, without

which food tastes flat and insipid. So much so that the adage tells

us that anything without salt is fit only to be consigned to the

dustbin—“uppillA paNdam kuppayilE”. However, at

TiruviNnagaram, the Lord likes all His offerings without a grain of

salt. Thus, “oppiliyappan” also doubles as “uppili

appan”, consuming all the paNiyArams without a single grain of

salt. Miraculously, even to those of us who have extremely sensitive

taste buds, the prasAdams of this Emperuman, when tasted within the

temple precincts, do not appear to be lacking in any way and are

indeed a delicious treat.

 

This predilection for particular delicacies doesn’t stop with

the Lord—it extends to His devotees too, whom we venerate

equally. Sri GaruthmAn of nAcchiAr KOil, for instance, is offered

“amrita kalasam”, a delicacy prepared from grated

coconut, jaggery etc. If Periya Tiruvadi likes these, then Siriya

Tiruvadi is not far behind, with a weakness for

“Vadai”—he likes “Vadai” so much that

he even wears a hundred of them around his neck as a

garland—“Vadai mAlai”. Sri Hanuman is also rumoured

to like “Dadhyannam” or “Tayir sAdam”.

 

Considering all this, is it any wonder that our SampradAyam is known

as the “MadaippaLLi SampradAyam” or the “YatIsvara

MahAnasa SampradAyam”?

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri

narayana Yatindra mahadesikaya nama:

dasan, sadagopan