Thread by @Defence_360

Niladri Bije & Rasagola dibas(day) of Lord Jagannath puri : Ancient Ritual of Lord Jagannath puri Rath yatra of odisha
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An factual counter & eye opener for people who claim Rasagola to be theirs 😛
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Thread..

Niladri bije is ceremony of Lord Jagannath’s return with his siblings from the Raths to the main temple in Goti Pahandi. Among all the rituals of Jagannath Rath Yatra, the most interesting and last one seems to be Niladri bije.

Why Lord Jagannath is not allowed to enter into the temple?

This is really interesting as it is all about the continuation of the fight between Lord Jagannath and Goddess Laxmi. Lord Balabhadra and Subhadra enter the temple after they return from the vacation,

but Goddess Lakshmi did not allow Lord Jagannath to enter into the temple. A fight happens between Lord Jagannath and Laxmi in front of the temple. Goddess Laxmi was angry on him; as he did not take her along for the vacation to his aunt’s place.

He had also closed the door when the Goddess had come to meet him. The angry Laxmi didn’t want him to enter the Puri temple as he had disrespected her.

How Lord Jagannath was allowed Entry into Puri Temple by Goddess Lakshmi?

Even after a lot of requests, Lord Jagannath was not allowed to enter the Jagannath mandir premises. After he offered Rasgola to Goddess Laxmi; an Odia sweet made of curd cheese.

She calmed down and accepted his apology and allowed him to enter the Puri temple. This auspicious day, Niladri bije also famous as Rasgola day in Odisha.

#Fact : Rasagola was the first sweet ever to be offered to Goddess Lakshmi in Lord Jagannath Temple puri, since construction of puri temple.

Rasagola founds it's name mentioned in various ancient texts like #DandeeRamayan as well as Books & literature published in Calcutta university clearly mentioning it to be a sweet originating from odisha which is published by B C MAJUMDAR, Lecturer in Calcutta university🎓

History :

Back in the 11th century CE, the priests of Jagannath temple invented a special sweet Rasagola as a tribute to Lord Jagannath.

Because it was innovated as a tribute to Jagannath’s big and round eyes, the sweet was almost white, big and elliptical-shaped instead of being a perfect sphere.
Dipped in sweet syrup, the sweet was called Khira Mohana back in 11th century CE.

Leaving Maa Lakshmi behind in Jagannath temple, Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra visit Gundicha temple every year during Rathyatra. This makes the Goddess angry. Goddess Lakshmi does not open the door for her husband when he returns from the trip.

Since brother cannot enter temple, how can Balabhadra and Subhadra enter the temple leaving Jagannath behind? The three siblings stay outside. Lord Jagannath diffuses Maa Lakshmi’s anger by offering her Khira Mohana.

Due to this, Goddess Lakshmi finally relents and agrees to let the Lord in. This ritual is known as Niladri Bije. During 11th century, the temple priests used to keep their recipes well guarded and the common people were unaware of the recipe.

Centuries later, this sweet became one of the most famous sweets available all-over Odisha due to one of the priests of Jagannath.
Folklore of Puri tells about the ancient village of Pahala, which had a large number of cows due to Lord Krishna’s association with the holy bovine.

Due to Lord’s blessings, even after feeding the calves, consuming the milk themselves, making sweets and food-dishes out of it, etc. the locals were always left with excess milk at the end of the day. Since milk gets spoiled, they used to throw away the excess milk.

When a priest of Jagannath temple saw the wastage, he shared the secret art of milk curdling with the locals and taught them the art of making Khira Mohana. Now that they could use the excess milk as chhena, they could create the sweet.

That was the first time when the sweet went beyond the premise of the temple and the common-man could prepare and consume it as a commercial sweet. This, among the common mass of Odisha, became famous as Rasagola (not Rasogolla).

Since the first appearance of the commercial sweet took place at the village of Pahala, the sweet is often referred as Pahala Rasagola. In modern day, the largest and most famous hubs of Rasagola are in Pahala and Salepur in Odisha.

Bikalananda Kar from Salepur revolutionized the Rasagola industry in Odisha.

But, since Indian historians and educated mass do not trust folklores to have traces of history, let us observe a more documented evidence.

Prataparudra Deva (1497 to 1540 A.D) was the last Gajapati emperor of the Suryabanshi Dynasty, which was founded by King Kapilendra Deva Routray. During Prataparudra’s reign, Balaram Das was one of the five poets known as Panchsakhas (Five Friends).

He composed the Odia Ramayan called Jagamohan Ramayan aka Dandee Ramayan. Balaram Das mentioned numerous local food-items and cultural practices in the Ramayan. This Ramayan had ample descriptions of chhena and chhena products in it.

Pundit Govinda Rath, born in 1848, was the first scholar to edit and publish it. The Ajodhya Kanda of the Dandee Ramayana narrates the incident where Sage Bharadwaj served Bharat and Shatrughna some foods and delicacies when they went to bring Rama back from exile.

The foods included dudha chhena (cottage cheese prepared from milk), chhena puri, chhena ladu, rasagola, and rasabali.

Bijay Chandra Majumdar’s book called “Typical Selections from Odia Literature” contains numerous excerpts from Dandee Ramayan.

On page number 84 of the excerpts, the word “Rasagola” is clearly mentioned. The book was published by Calcutta University in 1921.

Apart from Dandee Ramayan, the temple chronicle called Madala Panji also mentions about Rasogolla back into 11th century.

The history clearly proves that Rasagola originated in Odisha.

So HAPPY NILADRI BIJE & HAPPY RASAGOLA DIBAS TO ALL