Steamed Or Fried: Modak is BAE

For the last few days, people all over India are celebrating Ganeshotsav. In many places, there are unique decorations whereas in some places there are unique idols portraying various stories installed.

The people are celebrating the festival with full enthusiasm and zeal after two years of the pandemic. Ever since the Ganeshotsav was introduced by Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a festival of the people, to motivate people to participate in the freedom struggle unitedly.

Over so many years, one thing has been common when it comes to Ganeshotsav. That is, ‘Modak’ which has been the standard sweet even though there have been changes in height of the Ganpati idol or the way people celebrate.

But do you know anything about this most unique and delightful sweet dumpling–Modak? And how did the modak become a part of Ganesha’s persona?

Just like the other staple food, modak’s preparation also shows its connections with the land, especially the crops of the region.

Since the festival is the main festival of Maharashtra, the coastal regions of Maharashtra cultivate rice and coconut, hence the steamed modak popular known as marathi ‘ukdiche modak’ are made with a batter of coconut and jaggery and local sticky rice known as ambemohur. Whereas in the ghats, the modaks are made of wheat flour with a batter of sugar, coconut, and cardamom, and they are fried in ghee.

Lord Ganesh is not restricted to the state of Maharashtra but is also worshipped in different Dravidian states Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Modak is offered to Lord Ganesh there as well.

The interesting fact about Modak is that the origin of the work is from the Sanskrit word ‘Moda’ which means “small part of bliss” and it symbolizes spiritual knowledge. This sweet is just not famous in India, but it is also famous in South-East Asia including countries like Japan where it is known as 歓喜団 (Kankidan) meaning jubilant/happy, Thailand is known as โมทกะ (Mo thka) meaning Modaka and in Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar’s Burmese language is known as Kuih modak, Kue modak and မုန့်လုံးရေပေါ် (mu n lone raypaw) respectively.

The interesting prevalent story about Modak is when famished Lord Shiv along with Goddess Parvati and Lord Ganesh visited the home of Atri Rishi and his wife Anusuya. Anusuya watching adorable Ganpati offered food and thought that she will offer food to Lord Ganesh later. But Lord Ganesh even after having lots of food was still hungry and Lord Shiva was by now hungry, enraged, and exasperated. Watching this she decided and served a single piece of sweet and after having that he burped and was full.

So this was the story of Ganpati and Modak. The palatable modak is just a sweet we crave during the festival and the Ganpati festival is incomplete without this sweet!

Which one is your favourite ‘Steamed’ or ‘Fried’ Modak?