Have you ever wondered at the delicious taste of the Palpayasam at Ambalapuzha Sri Krishna
temple or the Unniappam at
Kottarakara Ganapati temple?
Yes. They are amazingly delicious, yet unique. The taste of
these neivedyams can never be
replicated as they have bhakti
(devotion) as an additional ingredient. The same goes for the aravana payasam of Sabarimala. All these neivedyams
are prepared in the respective temple kitchens with full adherence to hygiene
and purity of the ingredients. These neivedyams
are offered to the deity and then distributed amongst the devotees as prasadam. Devotees crave for getting a
portion of the prasadam, sometimes
leading to long meandering queues at the distribution counter. I remember, just
a few months back when we visited the Ambalapuzha temple, we had to wait for
almost an hour in the queue for the divine palpayasam.
It was well worth the wait though. I was told that it takes almost six hours for the palpayasam to reach the correct consistency and pinkish colour. Currently, the Travancore Devaswom Board wants
to patent these three temple prasadams
and the application process has begun for the GI (Geographical Indication) tag.
Some temples in India are famous for their unique neivedyam or offering to the deity of
the temple. Almost everyone has heard of the Laddu offering of one of the world’s richest temples, the Tirupati
Balaji temple.
Also known as the Srivari
Laddu, this delicious sweet is prepared in the temple’s kitchen known as Potu. Run by the TTD (Tirumala Tirupati
Devasthanam), the temple is believed to prepare, on an average, more than 2.8
lakh laddus on a daily basis. The Potu has three conveyor belts which carry
the ingredients for making it and then transport the finished laddus to the prasadam counter, from where they are distributed to the devotees. The
world famous Tirupati Laddu was the
first temple prasadam to be conferred
with the GI tag. That was more than a decade ago in 2009.
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| Srivari Laddu of Tirupati |
Another temple, the Arulmighu Dandayuthapani Swami temple in
the temple town of Palani in Tamil Nadu was granted the GI tag for its Panchamirtham in August 2019. The
production of this Palani Panchamirtham is
fully automated and derives its name from its five natural ingredients,
(banana, jaggery, cow ghee, honey and cardomom). The addition of dates and
diamond sugar increases its flavor. No water, preservatives or artificial
ingredients are used in the preparation. The grant of the GI tag limits the
production of this Panchamirtham to
the confines of the Palani temple town.
 |
| Palani Panchamirtham |
What is the GI tag and why is it so important?
An Indian product belonging exclusively to a specific region
is granted a geographical Indication tag which means that it can be made only
within that particular region or territory. The World Trade Organization
agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights specifies
that a product should possess “a given quality, reputation or any other
characteristic that is attributable to its geographical location” as a prerequisite
for application of a GI tag.
 |
| Aravana Payasam of Sabarimala |
In the case of the Kerala temple prasadams mentioned above, the patenting is thought necessary as
there have been cases of some private outlets selling counterfeit stuff and
devotees being conned into believing that they are getting the genuine aravana payasam or palpayasam. The GI tag will ensure that making of these delicious prasadams will be restricted to the
temple premises.
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