Dasara is one of the main festivals for Hindus. It is celebrated with great enthusiasm all over India! We have always kept a grand Golu( Display of dolls and handicrafts) almost every year! This year due to ill health of my parents I am not in a mood for great celebration.
Daily puja, chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam, and visiting the temple atleast one of the days is very important for people who like to celebrate the festival. Kalasa puja is performed on all days by Srividya upachakars. Chandi homam is performed everyday at The Raja Rajeshwari Temple in Bangalore on all the 9 days.
North Indians hold Jagratha or Chanting Bhajans on Devi whole night. They also invite girls below 10 years on Durgashtami, for a special puja. Poori and Sooji halwa are the prasaadams offered to Devi on this day.
Gujarathis have the Garba dance organised in various places.
In Karnataka Dasara is the Nadahabba or state festival. Mysore Dasara is famous world over for its amazing procession of elephants on Vijayadasami that highlights Indian culture – the Wodeyar Maharajas started this practice of celebrations on a grand scale. The entire Mysore Palace is lit with lamps on Vijayadasami.
Here’s a spectacular true to life photo taken by Ananth that I found on Flickr.
Photo by Ananth – licensed under Creative Commons
On the whole Dasara is a festival celebrated with great fervour all over India.
It must be observed that there is a small shortage of vegetable supply during the month of purattasi. So dry lentils are used to make prasaadam. They are rich in proteins and minerals and compensate for the deficit in supply of vegetables.
Tamilians prepare a variety of sundals as prasaadam every day and offer it to the Golu. Follow this link to see a stream of photos of a typical Golu uploaded by Mohan Ayyar. The other prasaadams include, Kunukku, appam and puttu. Recipes will be posted soon for the other recipes. Black chickpea sundal is prepared on saraswathi puja.
Sundals are made using various dried lentils. Some of them need to be soaked for 8 hours, while the smaller varieties need to be soaked for 1 hour. The prasaadam for friday is puttu, saturday is appam and kunukku. Kaaramani sundal is prepared with jaggery on tuesday.
Prasaadam on Saraswathi puja is black chickpea sundal and Boli/ Poli, along with a usual festival menu. Image of goddess Saraswathi is worshipped along with books and musical instruments, on this day.
On Vijayadasami day, all the machinery used in factories and industries are decorated and aayuda pooja is performed. Menu on Vijayadasami is similar to any tamizh festival.
Sundals
Kondakadalai(chickpeas, black and white) , Groundnut, Kaaraamani(Blackeyed beans, white and black) , Paasi payaru(whole moong dal), Kadalai paruppu (Channa dal) Are the items used for sundal. Chick pea needs to be soaked for 8 hours. Ground nut and kaaraamani can be soaked for an hour. Paasi payaru and kadalai parrupu are usually dry roasted and pressure cooked.
Kabuli Channa Sundal
White Black Eyed Beans – Karamani Sundal
Ingredients
- Beans of your choice – 1 cup
- Oil – 2 teaspoons
- Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
- Urad dal – 2 teaspoons
- Red chillies – 2 nos
- Curry leaves – 1 twig
- Coconut – 2 table spoons(Cut into small pieces)
- Salt to taste.
- Hing 2 pinches
Method
- Wash and soak the beans as required. Or dry roast if you are preparing Paasipayaru sundal.
- Pressure cook the beans with 1 cup water.
- Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds. when it crackles add red chilli pieces and urad dal and fry till golden.
- Add the coconut pieces and curry leaves and stir for a minute.
- Now drain the water from the cooked sundal and add to the coconut.
- Add salt and hing and stir for 2 minutes on a medium flame.
- Your sundal is ready for neivedyam.
Read the Round up of all Entries Here
The \'yum\' blog 
Nice info Latha ma. Never seen the mysore palace before. Looks awesome, gorgeous… Both the sundals look good.
Glad you wrote Dasara too. I was getting confused betn Dasshera etc in the blogs. We always said Dasara in Mysore!:)
I have posted the same photo of palace in my post I got it at Wikimedia!:D
LOve all the Sundals, I am cooking this Sunday and will post on 24th for RCI and Dasara.
Congratulations on hitting 1 lakh mark! That is a HUGE number!
Hope your parents are feeling lot better now Latha. Take care, hugs to you girl!:))
Thanks for the credits… 🙂 I cud do with some Sundal tooo… 🙂 come to think of it its been a while… (stomach grumbing…) 🙂 good article…
love chundal latha ( we call it chundal….) it is both healthy and delicious…
Thanks for the splendid picture of the mysore palace.
Have you kept the dolls for the decorations?
The sundals look so tasty!
Great Info, sundal, the word itself is so lovely!
I am planning to make Sundal and take it to the local temple here in NJ for Ashtami day celebrations. I love this festival and really missing the festive atmosphere in India. That Mysore, Maharaja’s Palace snaps looks cool, been there as a tourist during my school days!
Padma
Nice post.. and awesome sundals.
Luv the pic of the palace. Thx for sundals
Maami, you can send this to RCI – Tamil Festivals.
Lathaavare great writeup i am tied with time 🙂 oh do you live near rajarajeswari temple? i love visitng whenever i come to bangalore.
usuli my favorites can have anytime !
Worst thing about living in college dormitories – you miss all of this! I am craving sundal now.
I love these Sundals……Happy Navaratri Lakhsmiji and Lathaji……..What specials on Sunday..?
happy dashera to you … yes it true, that we do jagratha and give out kanjak on ashtami.. to little girls… 🙂
You both have been tagged to show your Fridge, check Aroma when you can!:)
Hi. Great Blog.
Is there any sequence for the Sundal – i.e. any particular Gram or Lentil for a particular day 0- whether as Day 1, 2 etc. of the Navaratri; or as day of the week.
If a day occurs twice in th 9-day period, do you repaet the same thing.
Larger question – are there any diktats or conventions on the food / sundal part of Navaratri.
Thx!
Nary
Navagrahas are the nine planet deities who are said to
have a significant impact on the lives of human beings. It is a common practice to appease these divine beings by offering grains and lentils.
So, during Navarathri sundal is offered each day in remembrance of these brazen deities, in the hope that all good things will reign.
1. Sunday – Sooriyan – Sun: Godumai (Wheat) is what pleases this dazzling deity. It is not difficult to make wheat sundal, though the process is labourious. Soak whole wheat the previous evening itself. In the
morning tie it in a cloth and allow it to stand till the evening. Pressure-cook the wheat with tumeric powder and salt. Proceed, as you would make any other sundal. If you find this task time consuming, you can try
making broken wheat payasam or broken wheat puttu.
2. Monday – Chandran – Moon: It is Arisi (Rice) that delights this gorgeous diety. You can use rice or rice with the husk (Nel). You can make rice puttu or rice payasam. Since it is impossible to make sundal with rice, you will have to pacify Chandran with some mixed rice or sweet
meat made of rice!
3. Tuesday – Angarakan – Sevaai – Mars: Thuvarai (Thoovar Dhal) is what gratifies this deity who brings triumph and success in all our endeavours. You can make sundal with broken thuvaram parrupu or the whole
variety that is commonly found in supermarkets. Soak the thuvarai the previous day and allow it to sprout. Pressure cook till it is done and proceed to make sundal. Add green chillies and raw mangoes to give tang and
flavour to the dish.
4. Wednesday – Budhan – Mercury: Payar (Moong Dhal) is what interests Budhan, the diety who makes every wish come true. Thus Wednesday is considered auspicious to begin all good things. Payar comes with and without husk, both broken and whole. Whatever variety you may use, be careful not to overcook this lentil since it cooks very fast. If you are using the whole variety with husk, you can soak it over night and allow it to sprout before making sundal. To prevent it from over cooking, here is a tip.. put the sprouted moong or soaked moong in a vessel with all the water drained, add salt and pressure cook for one whistle and open immediately after the pressure releases. Just before you serve the sundal try
squeezing a dash of lime for a novel taste. You can attempt making payar sweet sundal also using jaggery and coconut.
5. Thursday – Guru – Jupiter: Everyone needs the blessings of Guru to achieve success, so what better way to appease this diety other than offering sundal made of kadalai (channa dhal). Both the black and white varieties of kadalai can be used. Soak kadalai the previous day as it takes quite sometime for it to cook. Try adding green mango and ground chilli powder to add to the taste of this popular sundal.
6. Friday – Sukran – Venus: Mochai parrupu (white beans) is what pleases this Guru of the Asuras. White mochai parrupu comes both as dry beans and fresh beans, though the fresh variety is seasonal. If fresh bean
seeds are available use them. If you are planning to use the dry lentil, make sure you soak them well before cooking. Add a dash of green chillies, curry leaves, grated carrots and coconut to add colour and flavour to the dish.
7. Saturday – Sani – Saturn: The tiny black Ellu seeds (Sesame seeds) will surely win the heart of Sani, the most portent of the nine grahas. It is assumed that anyone who does not fall in the good books of Sani
can never thrive and prosper. So make sure you mollify this diety this navarathri. Try making ellu urundai! You could alternatively make ellu powder that can be mixed with rice. You can make sweet ellu powder if you are short of time. Dry roast ellu and make a coarse powder of it. Mix it with jaggery, to make sweet ellu podi.
8. Eight day of Navarathri – Rahu: The eighth and ninth days of navarathri are reserved for the snake deities Rahu and Ketu. Without the approval of this couple our desires can never materialize. Kollu is what Rahu likes. Try making Kollu sundal. Add masala powder (made of dry
roasted dhania seeds, red chillies and coconut) and lots of red chillies to add punch to this dish. You can also make Appam and offer it with a splattering of honey to please Rahu.
9. Ninth day of Navarathri – Ketu: Ullunthu ( Urad dhal ) is a sure way to please Ketu. Use whole ullunthu to make sundal. Add ginger, green chillies and ground masala powder to make this sundal tastier. You could also make ullunthu vadai! Instead of eating sundal every day we can have vadai for a change.
Thank you so much, Sudha, for taking time out of your day to write down all types sundal day-wise elaborately. It was extremely helpful for me and my mother. 🙂
Hi latha,
I was away from my place. Wonderful pic of palace.
Thanks for the recipes.
Please include my blogspot, if its not a problem for you. I am menutoday blogger friend. thanks.
Very nice writeup. Very informative.
It is gonna be navarathiri starting monday. You have mentioned about the sundal and puttu. Is there any order in doing this prasadams like you mentioned puttu for friday. likewise for sundal, is there any order of what to do for each day?
Hi 20 RT
This is what is followed in my house for the past 20 years of golu the sundals prepared for navarathiri prasadam
Sunday groundnut sundal
Monday—-bengal gram sundal, black channa sundal
Tuesday—karamani sundal
Wednesday—Whole Green moong
Thursday—-Kabuli channa, white chickpeas
Friday—Sweets( Puttu, Pottukadalai podi, rawa laddoo)
Saturday—til laddoo
Hi
I never knew that there is some particular sequence for chundal varieties during navaratri
Dear all,
There are specific sundals for each day of the week. But I am not too sure so I am unable to give details. I am trying to get in touch with someone who can give me authentic information.
The days I am sure of is black chickpea sunadal and boli for Saraswathi poojai, Puttu for Friday and either appam, Ellupodi or kunukku for saturday.
hai mami,
i just heard about this website.i want to know how to prepare puttu.pl tell me about this.
[…] Navarathri Pujai Arambam-30th September […]
Very interesting Sundal.
[…] Navarathri Pujai Arambam-16th October […]