Food for the Lord

There’s no limit on the dishes that can be offered to everyone’s favourite ‘foodie’, Lord Ganesha

The fourth day in the

Bhadrapada month of the Hindu calendar is celebrated as Ganesha or Vinayaka Chaturthi, a festival when Lord Ganesha is worshipped as the God of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. The installation of the idol, prayers, vedic chants and prasadam are all an integral part of the festival.

Lord Ganesha is known as a foodie with a fetish for all things sweet and is often depicted holding a plate with 21 pieces of traditional modak — his absolute favourite!

Lord Ganesha is also traditionally believed to feast on ladoos, especially motichur ones. Coconut ladoos, besan, rava, boondi, poha and til ladoos are not too far behind. Other sweets offered are payasam, puran poli, basundi, and shrikhand. Not only sweets, in fact, an entire feast is offered to the God, including puris, vadas, sabudana khichdi, idlis and sundal. The Lord’s belly represents the universe, so whatever we offer is very meagre.

In the southern parts of India, many homes offer a whole meal a s naivedyam

to the Lord Vinayaka. Sweets include modakum,

a variation of modak filled with boiled chana dal, jaggery and coconut. Pulihora, curd rice,

semiya pulao also find their place in the Lord’s meal.

Interestingly, each of the different states have different foods with unique ingredients and cooking methods that give the prasadam a unique flavour. What remains unchanged is devotion.