BHUBANESWAR: The Suara Mahasuara Nijog (cooks and chief cooks) of Shree Jagannath temple on Monday warned of stopping the preparation of ‘Abadha’ at the shrine over mismanagement of Ananda Bazaar and illegal sale of ‘tanka torani’, ‘rabdi’, ‘khiri’, ‘peda’ and ‘khua’ there.
They alleged that despite their repeated requests to the Shree Jagannath Temple Authority (SJTA) to stop non-servitors from selling ‘Mahaprasad’ ‘tanka torani’ and other sweet products in Ananda Bazaar, no steps have been taken in this regard yet.
President of Suara Mahasuara Nijog Padmanabha Mahasuara said 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 said.
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. “However, some sellers are making it with water from taps, Chinese salt and other things that are not allowed in the temple kitchen. There are 10 to 15 people who are selling it in Ananda Bazaar now and there is little space for our Supakars to sell Mahaprasad,” he said.Currently, Ananda Bazaar has 70 shops selling Mahaprasad and nearly 50 outlets selling ‘Khaja’.
The nijog head said only dishes prepared in the sacred kitchen of Srimandir should be allowed to be sold in the Ananda Bazaar. But some servitors who do not belong to the Suara Mahasuara Nijog are now selling ‘rabdi’, ‘khiri’, ‘khua’ and other sweets which are not made in the temple kitchen.
The nijog has 1,100 cooks and chief cooks and 2,000 workers who help in cutting vegetables, bringing wood and water and other chores in the kitchen.The ‘Rosha Ghara’ (temple kitchen) feeds almost 50,000 pilgrims on an average day and the number goes up to a lakh on special days. Apart from ‘Abadha’, the cooks prepare ‘Baraati Bhog’ which is ‘prasad’ cooked as per people’s orders.
Padmanabha informed that a meeting will be held among the nijog members between November 20 and 22 where a decision will be taken on stopping Mahaprasad preparation if the SJTA fails to take corrective measures.