Puri Jagannath Temple Cooks Threaten To Stop Preparing ‘Abadha’; Know Why

Puri: Members of the Suara Mahasuara Nijog, who handle the sacred kitchen of Shree Jagannath temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri have threatened to stop cooking ‘Abadha’ at the shrine alleging mismanagement of Ananda Bazaar.

They have reportedly alleged that some items like ‘tanka torani’, ‘rabdi’, ‘khiri’, ‘peda’ and ‘khua’ are being illegally sold at Ananda Bazaar in the 12th century shrine.

Nijog members claimed that no step has so far been taken despite their repeated requests to the Shree Jagannath Temple Authority (SJTA) to prevent non-servitors from selling ‘Mahaprasad’ ‘tanka torani’ and other sweet products in Ananda Bazaar.

President of Suara Mahasuara Nijog Padmanabha Mahasuara was quoted by TNIE as saying that sale of ‘tanka torani’ has been banned in the temple by SJTA since 2017. “However, some non-servitors have started selling it again in Ananda Bazaar since the last 10 to 15 days,” he was quoted as saying.

There is a tradition of serving ‘tanka torani’ to the Trinity but it has to be only made with curd, Mahaprasad rice water, lemon juice and leaves, mango ginger, green chili and salt.

Claiming that some sellers are preparing it with water from taps, Chinese salt and other items that are not allowed in the temple kitchen, he said there are 10 to 15 people who are selling it in Ananda Bazaar, thereby restricting the space for Supakars to sell Mahaprasad. Ananda Bazaar reportedly has 70 shops selling Mahaprasad and nearly 50 outlets selling ‘Khaja’.

Stating that dishes prepared in the temple kitchen should be allowed to be sold in Ananda Bazaar, he said some servitors who do not belong to Suara Mahasuara Nijog are selling ‘rabdi’, ‘khiri’, ‘khua’ and other sweets which are not made in the temple kitchen.

It may be noted here that the nijog has 1,100 cooks & chief cooks and 2,000 workers who help in cutting vegetables, bringing wood and water and other chores in the kitchen. The kitchen feeds over 50,000 pilgrims on an average day and the number goes up to a lakh on special occasions.

The Nijog head said a meeting will be held among the members soon and a decision will be taken on stopping Mahaprasad preparation if the SJTA fails to take necessary steps.