Jagannath Temple, Puri – Rosaighara
Rosaighara is a traditional kitchen of Jagannatha temple, Puri, Odisha, India. The
temple's kitchen is the largest in the world. The Rosaighara is
located in the temple's south-east direction in the outer compound. After
entering the temple through the main entrance on the east and ascend the flight
of steps leading to the main temple, on the left side, Rosaighara can be found.
Legends:
Tradition holds that all Mahaprasad cooking in
the temple kitchens is supervised by the Goddess Mahalakshmi,
the empress of Srimandir herself, and that if the food prepared has
any fault in it, a shadow dog appears near the temple kitchen, a sign of her
displeasure. If the shadow dog is seen, the food is promptly buried, and a new
batch cooked.
Rosaighara:
Rosaighara is 150 feet long, 100 feet wide and about 20
feet high. There are 32 rooms with 250 earthen hearths within.
Around 600 chefs known as suaras and 400 assistants together cook every
day. There are three types of hearths in the kitchen; Anna Chuli the
rice hearth, Ahia Chuli and Pitha Chuli the dessert hearth.
The rice hearth is 4 feet long 2.5 feet wide and 2 feet high. The rectangular
space created between two rice hearths is known as Ahia. Lentil and
other curries like Besara, mahura are cooked in
the Ahia Chuli. There are ten cement-based Pitha
chuli in Rosaighara.
The food is cooked by suaras (also known
as mahasuara or supakara), a sect that is given the charge since
the beginning of the temple. The food cooked in Rosaighara is
vegetarian and use of onion, garlic, potatoes and bottle
gourd are not allowed. A particular kind of earthenware known
as kudua are used for cooking. Water drawn from two wells near the
kitchen called Ganga and Jamuna are used for cooking.
Over 500 varieties of food raja bhoga, Chatra
bhoga and jajamani bhoga are cooked that are offered to Jagannatha,
Balabhadra
and Subhadra in
the temple pedestal ratnabedi and food offering pedestal Bhoga
Mandapa five times a day. Chapana bhoga, 56 varieties of cooked food are
offered almost every day. Kotha Bhoga or Abadha that is
offered as lunch around 1 in the afternoon is the most important food. The
food, after being offered to Jagannath,
is sold at Ananda Bajara as Abadha.
Every day food for over 5000-10000 is cooked where in
special occasions food for over 10 million people is cooked
in Rosaighara. There are two passages to the food out from the
kitchen; the first one leads to bhoga mandapa for larger Kotha
bhoga and Chatra bhoga, and the other one leading to the inner
sanctuary of the temple for the Kotha bhoga offering. Except
the suaras no one is allowed to go near the kitchen or even touch the food
until they are offered at the traid of the temple.
Ananda
Bajara:
Ananda Bajara is an open market for selling the temple
prasadams, located to the North-east of the Singhadwara (major entrance) inside
the temple complex.
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