Significance of Panihati Chida-dahi festival

Image Source:(Why Panihati Chida-Dahi Festival Is Known as the Festival of Punishment, 2019)          http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/srila-raghunatha-dasa-goswami-panihati.jpg

The Chida-dahi Mahotsav, also known as the Panihati Chipped Rice Festival, is a yearly honoring of Srila Raghunatha dasa Goswami's and Lord Nityananda Prabhu's pastimes. Dahi Chida is celebrated on the thirteenth day of the bright moon in the month of Jyeshta,(May-June). Every year pilgrims gather to Panihati to celebrate the Chida-dahi festival.

Chida-Dahi is a scrumptious blend of curd and chipped rice (poha/avalaki) with a variety of fruits, dryfruits, and other ingredients. This is a very comforting offering to the Lord in the burning heat of summer. Every year, the Chida-dahi Mahotsava is held to commemorate this wonderful pastime of Lord Nityananda that took palce in Panihati.

Danda Mahotsava  (the Festival of Punishment) is another name for this celebration as the orders of ceebration were playfully given to Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami by Sri Nityananda Prabhu. An excerpt from Caitanya-Antya caritamrta's lila chapter 6, discusses this lovely activity in great details. 

Panihati is a settlement on the Ganges River in West Bengal (10 miles north of Kolkata). When the river route was the primary mode of communication, it was one of the most important commerce centres. This location received a rare rice variety named Peneti from Jessore, East Bengal. Probably the name Panihati might have been derived from this trade connection.  

The Buddhist Tantrics and Kapalikas used to pray here. Panihati, however, became an important hub of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas in the sixteenth century, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu emerged to preach the Sankirtana Movement. Sri Raghava Pandita's (one of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's associates) residence is still standing in Panihati. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,arrived in Bengal Sate in the form of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the year 1486 AD at Sridhama Mayapura (a quarter of the city of Navadvipa). The Yuga-dharma – the congregational chanting of the Lord's holy names – was the purpose of His incarnation. Lord Balarama appeared as Nityananda Prabhu, and many of the Lord's eternal associates appeared to join His mission at that time. 

One of them was Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was a top devotee. At a young age, he demonstrated a sense of renunciation and separation from the material world. He desired to leave his home and participate in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, on the other hand, advised him not to do so, assuring him that Krishna would soon rescue him from the shackles of maya. Nityananda Prabhu arrived in Panihati two years later and decided to stay. Raghunatha dasa, who lived in the nearby village of Srikrishnapura, obtained permission from his father, Govardhan Mazumdar, and travelled to Panihati to meet Nityananda Prabhu. 

He came to Nityananda Prabhu seated on a rock beneath a banyan tree on the banks of the Ganges at Panihati. He was surrounded by a large number of devotees. Raghunatha dasa was apprehensive to approach the Lord and instead offered his respects from afar. Some devotees, however, observed him and informed Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu called Raghunatha dasa and said “Raghunatha dasa! You are hiding like a thief. Now I have caught hold of you. Come here. I shall punish you today.’’ Lord Nityananda then grabbed him and placed His lotus feet on Raghunatha's head. He told Raghunatha to throw a grand party and distribute yoghurt and chipped rice to all the worshippers. 

dadhi, ciḍā bhakṣaṇa karāha mora gaṇe
śuni’ ānandita haila raghunātha mane  

“Make a festival and feed all My associates yogurt and chipped rice.” Hearing this, Raghunatha dasa was greatly pleased.

Raghunatha dasa quickly send his men to neighbouring villages to procure various foodstuffs. They brought chida (chipped rice), milk, yoghurt, sweetmeats, bananas, sugar, and other foodstuffs. They soaked the chipped rice in milk. Half of the soaked chida was then mixed with yogurt, sugar and special type of banana known as canpa-kala. The remaining half was mixed with condensed milk and flavored (with ghee)clarified butter and (Kapoor)camphor. Lord Nityananda celebrated the Panihati festival with this preparation. Strawberry, Fig, Gulkand, Chandan, Black Grapes, Raspberry, and other unique flavours were among the offerings.

The brahmana brought the seven large pots before Nityananda Prabhu after he had changed his clothing and sat on a raised platform. All of Sri Nityananda Prabhu's most prominent associates, as well as other notable individuals, sat in a circle around the Lord on that stage. Ramadasa, Sundarananda, Gadadhara dasa, Murari, Kamalakara, Sadasiva, and Purandara were among them. On the raised platform accompanying Nityananda Prabhu were Dhananjaya, Jagadisa, Paramesvara dasa, Mahesa, Gauridas, and Hoda Krsnadasa, as well as Uddharana Datta Thakura and many other personal associates of the Lord. There was no way to keep track of them all. 

Hearing about the event, all kinds of learned scholars, brahmanas, and priests came. Lord Nityananda Prabhu honoured them by making them sit with Him on the raised platform. Two earthen jars withboh types of dahi-chida dishes were given to each person. Some sat on the platform, some at the platform's base, and yet others on the Ganges' bank, and each was given two pots by the twenty men who served the food. Raghava Pandita arrived at that point. When he realised what was going on, he burst out laughing. He also brought a variety of other foods cooked in ghee, which he offered to the Lord. He presented this prasada to Lord Nityananda before distributing it to the devotees. 

"For You, sir, I have already offered food to the Deity," Raghava Pandita told Lord Nityananda, "but You are busy in a feast here, and thus the food is lying there untouched.""Let me eat all this food here during the day, and I will dine at your home at night," Lord Nityananda answered. Because I belong to a group of cowherd guys, I usually hang out with a lot of cowherds. When we have a picnic like this beside the river's sandy bank, it makes me happy. Lord Nityananda made Raghava Pandita sit down and had two pots served to him also. Lord Nityananda Prabhu, in meditation, brought Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu after everyone had been served chipped rice. Lord Nityananda Prabhu stood up as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu entered. They then observed how the others ate the chipped rice with yoghurt and condensed milk. As a prank, Lord Nityananda Prabhu grabbed one morsel of chipped rice from each pot and stuffed it into Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mouth. Lord Nityananda was passing around all the groups of eaters in this manner, and all the Vaisnavas there were enjoying themselves.

Nobody knew what Nityananda Prabhu was up to as He strolled around. Some, however, who were really fortunate, were able to see Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then Nityananda Prabhu sat down, smiling. He kept four pots of chipped rice that were not formed from boiled paddy on his right side. Lord Nityananda sat Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu down and provided Him a seat. The two brothers then began eating chipped rice together. When Lord Nityananda Prabhu saw Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu eating with Him, he got very joyful and displayed several forms of ecstatic love. "All of you eat while singing the holy name of Hari," Lord Nityananda Prabhu said. The holy names "Hari Hari" resounded throughout the universe at once. Everyone remembered how Krsna and Balarama ate with their companion cowherd boys, on the bank of the Yamuna. 

When the celebration was going on, shopkeepers from many different villages came to offer chipped rice, yoghurt, sweetmeats, and bananas. Raghunatha dasa bought everything from them. 

Visitors who came to observe what was going on were also fed chipped rice, yoghurt, and bananas. After finishing his meal, Lord Nityananda Prabhu washed His hands and mouth before giving the remaining food in the four pots to Raghunatha dasa.

Then a brahmana brought a flower garland and spread sandalwood pulp all over Nityananda Prabhu's body. When a servant brought betel nuts and handed them to Lord Nityananda, the Lord smiled and chewed them. Lord Nityananda Prabhu presented whatever flower garlands, sandalwood pulp, and betel nuts remained to all the devotees with His own hands. Raghunatha dasa, who was overjoyed at receiving the remaining food left by Lord Nityananda Prabhu, ate some and dispersed the rest among his own associates.

References :

Chida dahi Mahotsav(Chipped Rice Festival). (n.d.). ISKCON Desire Tree. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/chida-dahi-mahotsav-chipped-rice-festival

Dasa, G. (2022, May 17). Delightful story of Panihati Chida-dahi festival. Www.Iskconbangalore.Org. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.iskconbangalore.org/blog/delightful-story-of-panihati-chida-dahi-festival/

Mayapur Communication Office. (2019, June 15). Why Panihati chida-dahi festival is known as the festival of punishment. Mayapur Voice. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/why-panihati-chida-dahi-festival-is-called-the-festival-of-punishment/

Why Panihati chida-dahi festival is known as the festival of punishment. (2019, June 15). [Illustration]. Mayapur Voice. http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/why-panihati-chida-dahi-festival-is-called-the-festival-of-punishment/