Panchamrita

The ingredients of panchamrita: (clockwise from bottom right) milk, curd, sugar (or jaggery), honey and ghee

Panchamrita (Sanskrit: पञ्चामृत, lit. 'five Amṛtas') is a mixture of five foods used in Hindu as well as Jain worship and puja and Abhiṣeka[1] It is often used as an offering during pooja post which it is distributed as prasad.[2]

The main ingredients typically include honey (मधु), sugar (शर्करा), cow milk (दुग्ध), curd (दधि) and ghee (घृत)[3]

The Abhiṣeka starts with ghee. A conch full of cow's ghee is poured on the head of the idol and it flows down up to feet. Then milk, curd, honey and sugar are poured.[4] While a variety of additional regional ingredients such as, cardamom, banana, tender coconut, and dates are used,[5] the five base ingredients remain the same across all of India.

In Tamil Nadu, Panchamritam (Tamil: பஞ்சாமிர்தம்) is a mixture of banana, ghee, honey, jaggery and cardamom. In addition, other substances like seedless dates and sugar candies are added.[6] Keralites may also include tender coconut. Some recipes also include grapes.[7]

Palani Dhandayuthapani temple located in Tamil Nadu is popular for its unique panchamirtham which uses Virupatchi hill bananas grown in the surrounding Palani hills.[8] It received its unique Geographical indication in 2019 from the Government of India.[9]

  1. ^ For definition of पञ्चामृत (IAST: pañcāmṛta ) as "the collection of five sweet things used in worshipping deities" see: Apte 1965, p. 578,
  2. ^ "Happy Mahashivratri 2018: Importance Of Panchamrit And How To Make It At Home". NDTV.com. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  3. ^ Delamaine, James (1826). "Of the Sra'wacs or Jains". Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 1 (2): 413–438. doi:10.1017/S095047370000029X. ISSN 0950-4737. JSTOR 25581717.
  4. ^ "Panchamrita Abhisheka Puja". Udupi Krishna Mutt.
  5. ^ Karigoudar, Ishwaran (1977). A populistic community and modernization in India. Brill Archive. ISBN 9004047905. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  6. ^ "Only Official Website of Arulmigu Dhandayuthapaniswamy Temple, Palani - Facilities: Panchamirtham". Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  7. ^ Nair, K.K. (26 March 2003). Sages Through Ages, Proof of divinity given. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781418446895. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  8. ^ "Palani temple to double panchamritam production". The Economic Times. Palani, India. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  9. ^ "'Panchamirtham' of Palani temple gets GI tag". The Hindu. 14 August 2019.