Today is the auspicious day of Srikrishna Janmashtami , a hindu festival celebrating the birth of lord Krishna . This is my favourite festival among all hindu festivals. Here is how we celebrate it.
Few people keep a fast (without food and water) on this day. But at my home, we used to eat a light fasting lunch. The main celebrations start in the night. At our native, this pooja is performed only in few houses and in temples. Men gather at a place to do the pooja.
The poojari (called as ‘bhatmam’ in Konkani) goes to these places and lends them small saligram and a statue of Bala-Krishna (child krishna, The statue looks similar to the above picture). Bhatmam does the initial pooja to both saligram and statue and prepares the ‘Panchamrit/panchamritam’, offering prepared by mixing ‘panch’ – 5, amrit – immortal nectar. The main ingredients here are milk, sugar, yogurt(curd), honey and jaggery ( molasses ).
Then the men at home/temple carry on with the remaining procedures. They decorate god with lotus and other flowers. Then one of the men take the lead and read 1000 names of lord Krishna (Vishnu sahasranama), others follow him, with each name, men offer one tulsi dala (two leaves connected together) to lord. After 500 names one pooja is performed and after all the names are chanted, a offering of food followed with the main pooja is performed. So at the end of the pooja, the small statue of krishna would be completely covered with tulsi leaves and it won’t be visible from outside. The whole procedure starts around 8 in the night and goes on for around 2 hours (depending on the speed with which men chant the names). Usually at the final pooja, the arrangement looks like this (picture was taken during Janmashtami 2005 at my native)
The offering to god on this occasion are very simple, but we make a variety of dishes. They include – Cashewnut laddoos (these days these are replaced by sesame laddoos with few roasted cashewnuts) – Layya pitto (Layyi or layya is a kind of unsalted popcorn. Layyi pitto is coarsely powdered popcorn. This powder is mixed well with coconut and jaggery, cardamom, ghee and offered to god) – Rosa phovu (Poha soaked in coconut milk, jaggery and cardamom powder) – Dhaya phovu (Poha soaked in curd/yogurt and sugar) – Cucumber pieces or Taushe hulel – GoDa panchkajjaya (Procedure is given below. GoD meaning jaggery in Konkani)
Following picture was taken during Janmashtami 2005. In the top vessel-layya pitto, left-sesame laddoos, bottom-panchakajjaya, right-cucumber pieces can be seen.
So when we were kids, we used to sit patiently and eat this ‘prasad/prasadam’. Mom would make a simple dinner of rice, daali thoy and we would be more than happy to eat dinner along with her pickles and taushe hulel. The next day of Janmashtami is also special. I would write more about it tomorrow.
Ingredients: Dalia split (Hurikadale or putani) 1/2 cup Fresh coconut (grated) 2 tbl spns Molasses (black jaggery) 1 tbl spn Cardamom powder 1/2 tea spn Sesame seeds (til) 1 tea spn Ghee 1 tea spn
Method: Dry roast dalia splits(hurikadale) and coarsely powder them. Wash sesame seeds and dry roast them (till they split open). Mix molasses and coconut (by hand). Add the dalia powder, sesame seeds, cardamom and ghee to it and mix well.
Cheppi (bland taste) kheeri ( kheer in Marathi means ‘ payasam ‘ or ‘pudding’, the dish I am referring to is ‘ kheeri ‘ the difference may be because there is no sugar in it) is a festival dish. At my native it is usually prepared as the offering to god on the next day of Janmashtami. (I explained about Janmashtami rituals yesterday, I have uploaded some of the pictures that I had clicked last year on Janmashtami).
On Janmashtami all the decorations are done as shown here , the next day, some rituals are followed to take out these decorations. The poojari (or bhatmam ) goes to the places where he had kept the saligram and bala-krishna statue previous day. He does the pooja and offers ‘ cheppi kheeri ‘, ‘cow’s milk’, ‘ venti randayi ‘ to god. After the offerings are done, bhatmam takes off the decorations and takes his saligram and bala-krishna statue back with him. The tulsi and other decorations are discarded near ashoka katte (a round stone structure beneath the tree where the poojas are offered).
‘ Venti randayi ‘ is a side dish prepared by cooking chana and colocasia leaves and stems ( venti literally means stem) in coconut gravy. Usually a few pieces of leaves are tied into knots and put into the dish, this is the specialty of the dish). Following is the picture of the leaves being cut (taken during Janmashtami 2005 at my native, last year I didn’t know I would be writing this post, otherwise I would have taken the detailed pictures).
Cutting colocasia leaves and stems for ‘ venti randayi ‘
‘ Cheppi kheeri ‘ looks like Rice congee , but since coconut or milk is used, it looks completely white. The main aroma of this dish comes from ‘turmeric leaves’ ( haldi panna ). These leaves are grown at home and usually used in variety of dishes for their aroma. (I do not think these are available outside India).
Pictorial:
Cook rice. Grind coconut with enough water to smooth paste. Add this paste to rice and cook. Tie each turmeric leaf into a knot and add to the dish. Cook for around 5mins. People like it to eat with or without salt. The leaves are discarded while eating.
Sugarless rice pudding(Cheppi kheeri)
Ingredients
- 1 cup dosa rice or any normal white rice
- 3/4 cup fresh coconut
- 1-2 turmeric leaves
Instructions
- Cook rice.
- Grind coconut with enough water to smooth paste. Add this paste to rice and cook.
- Tie each turmeric leaf into a knot and add to the dish.
- Cook for around 5mins.
- People like it to eat with or without salt. The leaves are discarded while eating.
