Ever wondered why we offer seedai, appam, etc to Krishna for His Jayanthi? The answer lies in Periyazhvar’s verses. Periyazhvar’s love for Krishna was filial. He saw himself as Yasoda, the doting mother. In Vaishnava temples, during Tirumanjanam, Periyazhvar’s neeraattam pasurams are recited, and one of them goes: appam kalanda sitrundi akkaram paalil kalandu .
Appam — the rice flour and jaggery preparation — needs no explanation. Sitrundi is what is popularly known as suyyan, the sweet with a filling of coconut and jaggery. Akkaram (jaggery) is mixed with milk and cooked rice to get akkara vadisil. Krishna is not content with the usual appams His mother offers. So Yasoda promises big appams — periyana appam tharuvan pirane (Periyazhvar Tirumozhi 2-3-5).
Yet another pasuram of Periyazhvar talks of sennel arisi siruparuppu seida akkaram naru nei paalaal . Periyavachan Pillai says sennel is red rice, grown in a fertile field; siru paruppu is moong dhal. Ambalappuzha Krishna temple, near Alleppey, is famous for its paal payasam, and interestingly, this paal payasam was traditionally made with red rice.
In one Periyazhvar pasuram, we have a Gopika complaining to Yasoda. She had kept in a vessel — kannal ladduvathodu seedai karellin undai (jaggery, laddus, seedai and black sesame balls). But she returned to find that Krishna had eaten everything!
Yasoda also tells Krishna that she has kept some jamun fruits for Him — naaval pazham kondu vaithaen. (Periyazhvar Thirumozhi 2-3-12). Because of His fondness for jamun fruits, Krishna sweet talks a Gopika girl into parting with her bangles, which He then trades for some jamun fruits (Periyazhvar Tirumozhi-2-9-10).
Someone who feasts on such rich foods is bound to come down with a tummy upset, and to offset that, on Krishna Jayanthi, we offer Krishna sukku vellam — dry ginger mixed with jaggery, for ginger aids digestion. Of course, there is a symbolic meaning to sukku vellam.
Periyavachan Pillai, in one of his commentaries, says that moral messages do not go down well with people. But if you tell them a story, and incidentally slip in the moral, then they get the message. Sukku (ginger) is the unpalatable moral, and so it is mixed with tasty jaggery, which is the story.
Thuni tenkuzhal is the festival speciality at Melkote. The batter (rice and urad dhal) is squeezed out through a hole made in a cloth. The edges of the hole are fixed using button hole stitch, to keep the hole from getting bigger. Once the tenkuzhals have been fried, powdered sugar and cardamom are sprinkled over them. Another Melkote speciality is muccori, also a type of murukku. Obbattu (poli) is also a staple in Melkote for Krishna Jayanthi.
