5 days Ago By Himanshu
On the occasion of Dhanu Sankranti today, the ritual of offering the special ‘Pahili Bhoga’ to the deities to begin today for this year at Srimandira, the famous Lord Jagannath temple in Puri of Odisha. The ‘Pahili Bhoga’ will be offered to the deities at Srimandira for coming one month. This offering is prepared with ingredients like black gram, wheat powder (not flour) etc.
The paste is roasted with ghee to prepare pancake (pitha) and ‘Dhanu Muan’ (a sweet delicacy) that will be offered. The ‘Pahili Bhoga’ is offered during the ‘Gopalaballava’ ritual. As per the decision of the Srimandira temple administration, the ‘dwarafita’ (opening of the gate) ritual will be done at 2 am, followed by Mangala Alati and other rituals.
The Pahili Bhoga is offered in between 5.30 am to 6 am. As per the legend Goddess Mahalaxmi visits her paternal home for one month from Dhanu Shankranti till Makar Sankranti.
In her absence, Maa Yashoda prepares food for Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Maa Shubhadra. Pahili Bhoga is offered daily starting from Dhanu Sankranti till previous day of Makara Sankranti. ‘Pahili Bhoga’ is the ‘Adya Bhoga’ of the deities at Srimandira.
This bhoga is offered every day before dawn. The offerings include twenty three types of pancakes (pithas) like badajhilli, amalu, aarisa, kakara, manda, gaintha, chadheineda and badi among others. Every day after the Mangala Alati and Abakasha rituals the Pahili Bhoga is offered to the deities before Sunrise.
This month long tradition is considered a special time of devotion. On this occasion heavy crowd of devotees is witnessed at Srimandira..
