Funfact: Why God Krishna was offered 56 delicacies in one day.
Part 3: Quirky things in religions all over the world
In the last parts we found that most of the Gods make do with coconuts and Strawberry Fanta instead of human sacrifices and blood. While Vishnu could be pleased by a simple Strawberry Fanta in Thailand, his avatar, Krishna, receives a lot more from his devotees. To be precise, a total of 56 delicacies! This offering, called Chhappan Bhog is often prepared on special occasions on the day of Janmashthmi. But why 56?
There’s a famous story about Krishna in Bhagwat Purana, which sadly in the end, goes against his teaching. Once upon a time in Vrindavan, farmers used to offer lavish offerings to Indra to pray for a good monsoon. Krishna thought that this is unfair to the poor farmers and advised them to focus on karma and not on trying to control elements of nature. Indra, enraged by the lack of offerings, showed his wrath by a heavy downpour which flooded Vrindavan. To protect the villagers, Krishna lifted the Govardhan mountain on his little finger and sheltered everyone.
Krishna stood there for 7 days without food and water after which Indra bowed and retreated.
The overjoyed villagers decided to treat Krishna. It is believed that the Lord ate 8 items a day, and that multiplied by 7 days meant 56 food items were prepared for His treat!
Another story says that since one day has 8 pahar (3 hours each), and in temples God is offered prayers etc in each pahar, that makes it 8X7 days = 56 offerings. Yet another theory says that there are 6 flavours in Ayurveda and a total of 56 combinations of flavours are possible, hence 56 dishes of each flavour are prepared. Whatever may be the origin, we do not know if Lord Krishna would be pleased to see his devotees stretch beyond their means in giving offerings rather than focusing on karma, which was supposed to be the moral of the story.
See you soon with new snippets. Have a happy weekend!
Note: The blog was originally published by the author in her personal blog on the day of Janmashthmi, which is celebrated this year 2020, on August 12th.
In case, you would like to join the growing club of writers in Beyond IIM — drop an email at beyondiimsociety@gmail.com
