Pitru Paksha (fortnight of the ancestors) is a 16-lunar day period in Hindu calendar when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors (pitrs), especially through food offerings. In southern and western India, it falls in the 2nd paksha (fortnight) Hindu lunar month of Bhadrapada (September) and follows the fortnight immediately after the Ganesh Festival. It begins on the Pratipada (first day of the fortnight) ending with the no moon day known as Sarvapitri Amavasya. Source : Wikipedia
Pitru Paksha is designated for karmic cleansing and for performing rituals and prayers for the ancestors. It is believed that souls of our ancestors are closest to the Mother Earth during these days. Our ancestors leave behind their good and bad karmas. We enjoy happiness, success, peace and prosperity because of their good karmas and face obstacles, hindrances and illness in life due to some of their bad karmas that keeps reflecting in our lives. When we perform rituals for their peace, they bless us in return as we have helped them in releasing their negative karmic ties.
Normally the shraddh or the other rituals are performed in the name of a particular ancestor on the tithi when he or she left the physical body. But at times, one is not aware of the lunar dates , the ancestors left their mortal body. In such cases, "Sarve Pitru Amavasya" comes as a rescue. As the name suggest, sarva means all, pitru means ancestors and Amavasya is the dark night- which means a day designated for all ancestors irrespective of the day they have died on. Source:https://www.religionworld.in/mahalaya-amavasya-significance-rituals/
On this day devotees remember their ancestors and pay homage to them and offer, food, clothes and sweets to the Brahmins. The belief of offering food to the dead ancestors is said to free their souls from the circle of life so that they can attain salvation. The food offerings made for the ancestors are cooked at home and offered typically on plate and cups made of dried leaves. I have grown up seeing my parents doing all these rituals very religiously every year. The food offered during shradh varies from place to place in India. The thali i have shown here is what we cook in our family on the shradh tithi and on Sarva Pitru Amavasya as an offering to God , ancestors and then all the family members have this as prasad. The food is satvik ( no onion -garlic food).
Video for Shradh Naivedhyam Thali
My shradh naivedyam thali for Sarva Pitru Amavasya has
- Rice Kheer : Chawal ki kheer a traditional Indian dessert holds an important place in the shradh thali.. A creamy rich sweet preparation where in rice is cooked and simmered in milk. Click here for detailed recipe.
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Rice Kheer |
- Kadhi - A simple yet delicious dish made by tempered butter milk with fragrant Indian spices. This Maharashtrian kadhi is very different from the North Indian kadhi , it is thin , slightly sweet in taste and is served steaming hot with rice.
- Cluster Beans- Gavar phali ki subji : A simple onion garlic free curry which gets a characteristic nutty flavor and thickness from the added roasted peanut powder. Click here for the detailed recipe.
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Cluster Beans Curry |
- Pumpkin Stir Fry : Lal Bhopalaychi Bhaji as called in Marathi is a lip smacking dry vegetable curry in which pumpkin pieces are stir fried along with basic tempering spices and curry leaves. The dish gets a mild sweet taste which comes from the added jaggery powder.
- Bhindi / Okra stir fry. : A simple okra stir fry which goes well with chapati.
- Kurdai / Papadum is a typical Maharashtrian snack which comes under papad category but is made from wheat. Kurdai is made during summer time, sun dried and used whole year round. No festive Maharashtrian thali is complete without this snack. It is deep fried and served with meals.
- Bitter melon Stir Fry / Karele Ki Subji : A flavorful dry curry in which thin bitter melon roundels are stir fried with spices. It is mildly tangy because of amchur powder and slightly sweet because of the added jaggery powder. Click here for the detailed recipe.
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Bitter Melon Stir Fry / Karele ki subji |
- Aluchya Vadya / Patra : Alu vadi is a popular stuffed taro leaf (Colocasia) starter dish in west region of India. It is known as Patra in Gujarati and Aluchya Vadya in Marathi. In this savoury steamed leaf roll recipe , a spicy, tangy and slightly sweet gram flour batter is applied on the arbi (Taro)leaves. This smeared leaves are then stacked upon each other , rolled and then steamed. The steamed multi-layered taro leaf roll is then cut into slices and tempered or deep fried. Click here for the detailed recipe.
- Split Black Lentil Fritters : A deep fried urad dal fritter also known as medu vada. Medu vada is a popular South Indian snack. Click here for detailed recipe.
Udadache Vade / Split Black Lentil Fritter
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Aluchya Vadya / Patra |
- Sponge Gourd Fritters : In this the sponge gourd roundels are dipped in a spicy chickpea flour batter and deep fried until golden brown from both the sides.
- Dhirde : Spicy chickpea flour pan cakes are made and here they are cut into long strips and served.
- Apart from this Panchamrut and a banana raita (Kelichi Koshimbir) is also a part of shradh Thali.
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Panchamrut |
Hats off to your marathon cooking efforts.Love the way you follow and respect your rituals. Keep rocking my dear friend.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot dea Ravneet :)
DeleteGood to see you still follow traditions and prepare special food with great effort.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by my space to leave such a positive feedback
DeleteAgain Poonam Bachhav You rocks. Please share Navratri Pooja recipes with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you ...i have many Navratri Fasting Recipes already on the blog. Just click on the Fasting Recipes drop down menu on the right side of the blog home page. or type the recipe you are looking for as there is a search engine too
DeleteAnother masterpiece .superb
ReplyDeleteThank you Seema
DeletePoonam, I always admire you for following the traditions and making these elaborate thalis!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Sandhya 💚
DeleteNice to see traditional recipes and your collection of this prasad food is fabulous! Excellent, admirable effort!
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Vanitha.
DeleteNot all bloggers post recipes for every event. Kudos to you for taking the effort to post detailed recipes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for those kind words Praneetha 😃
DeleteHow delightful and delicious this thali looks, extremely inviting, prefect for neivedhyam. Well done.. Beautiful thali there, kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteThan you so much Priya.
DeleteWhat a delicious and divine looking thali, very informative post on Shradh.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jagruti. I am glad you liked the post
DeleteNice to see the divine thali,Thanks for sharing the recipe in detail.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sweet feedback Pavani
DeleteSimply love your Thaalis and am always in awe of the effort that you put in making such an exotic spread. Hats off!!
ReplyDeleteYou are so kind with your words Anshu. Thanks a lot for the lovely feedback
DeleteThat's a lovely tradition and what an amazing way to pay homage to ones ancestors! I love everything in your thali - especially the fritters and Stir fried vegetables.
ReplyDeleteThank you Maria. The fritters are my son's favourite in this platter.
DeleteLove your traditional thali posts always, so many mouthwatering dishes to taste at one go, hats off to you Poonam for so much of hardwork you put in creating such awsome posts.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Soma
DeleteThis platter looks so tasteful Poonam. I love people when when they make such a beautiful spread for naivedyam. Love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bhawana ! Naivedhyam platters always taste devine.
DeleteBeautiful thali. Everything looks awesome and so so delicious. Love the arrangement too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nandita.. we pay special attention to the way food is served in a naivedhyam platter.
DeleteWhat a delicious and divine looking thali.... You are always bang on this type of sharing poonam !!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much dear Sasmita
DeleteNot only is your effort commendable, but also your attention to detail Poonam. Absolutely love what you do and create here.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a sweet feedback Seema. Thank you so much for the lovely words.
DeletePitru Paksha is the most important period of the year to pay reverence to one’s ancestors.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely ! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteThank you very much for this detailed post. Appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive feedback.
Delete