Can non-brahmins offer cooked food to god ?

[sambya]

In Bengal (and possibly the eastern side of India) there's a rule that one who is not born into brahmin caste is not allowed to offer cooked food to god as naivedyam . instead they are welcomed to offer foods like cut fruits , uncooked rice , vegtables etc to gods .

some other food items like fried breads(puri) , fried sweets etc are also considered as not belonging to the 'cooked' category .
hence they are also permitted .

but offering of boiled rice( anna bhoga ) or cooked sabji remains strictly forbidden .

i am curious to know the traditional rules in prevailing in other parts of the nation ...........

[Eastern Mind]

sambya: Yes it will vary. Good question. Here at my multi-tradition temple, run by Sri Lankan Saivas, only the Brahmin can cook food that is offered to the deities. They have a special little kitchen for it just off the temple. However, there is a larger kitchen downstairs for cooking of Sunday lunch, or special lunches. This food is not offered to the deities, and can be cooked by anyone. The temple has a rule that food cannot be brought in from outside, but it is so difficult to enforce that it is allowed a bit when groups rent the space.

Aum Namasivaya

[sanjaya]

I don't see why non-Brahmins couldn't offer cooked food to God. Do Brahmins have a monopoly on God?

As far as traditions go, strangely in my family (we're Brahmin), we don't offer cooked foods to God during pujas. Granted, mostly we only perform Satyanarayana puja, in which the prescribed prasadams aren't cooked anyway. But at the puja group in my hometown, there was never any cooked prasadam either.

[sambya]

I don't see why non-Brahmins couldn't offer cooked food to God. Do Brahmins have a monopoly on God?

As far as traditions go, strangely in my family (we're Brahmin), we don't offer cooked foods to God during pujas. Granted, mostly we only perform Satyanarayana puja, in which the prescribed prasadams aren't cooked anyway. But at the puja group in my hometown, there was never any cooked prasadam either.

i dont think that brahmins have a monopoly in god , but that's the way it has been here for thousands of years . just as eastern mind said , only a brahmin is allowed to cook , serve or offer cooked food to the deity !

a non brahmin is not even allowed to carry the plates to the sanctum .

i think this practice has its origins in the vedantic verse ' ahar suddhau sattvasudhau " which sri ramanujacharya interpreted as -- one who intakes purified food attains to purity . impure food includes non-vegetarian items as well as pungent items like onion and food touched or cooked by materialistic or impure men . since brahmins are considered the best of men , it natuarally followed that food cooked by them are best suited to bhoga offering . hence in bengal there is a practice of hiring brahmins as cooks even by shudra rich families !!!!


you said that in you hometown there's no cooked food offering to gods . well thats something new for me ! thanks for sharing . but is that the rule for big temples too ?!

[LALKAR]

Namaste All,

I don't think it is a big issue, most of the Avtar were non brahmans
Ram was Ikshvaku, Krishan was Yaday, but rule is rule.

Brahmans (only by Varna not birth) can do this.

There is an old rule of that (not very old, but few centuries old)
Brahman Kicthen is pure because they never cook non-veg, so only they were allowed.

Here there is no issue, we always offer fruits and other food like this, during some bhoj, anybody can cook the meal. There are already some news from different parts that, people get ill after taking polluted food

The Rule is same, food offered as prasad must be pure, if somebody dose not cook it properly they have no right do do it, no matter if they are Brahman by birth or whatever

[sambya]

Namaste All,

I don't think it is a big issue, most of the Avtar were non brahmans
Ram was Ikshvaku, Krishan was Yaday, but rule is rule.

Brahmans (only by Varna not birth) can do this.

There is an old rule of that (not very old, but few centuries old)
Brahman Kicthen is pure because they never cook non-veg, so only they were allowed.

Here there is no issue, we always offer fruits and other food like this, during some bhoj, anybody can cook the meal. There are already some news from different parts that, people get ill after taking polluted food

The Rule is same, food offered as prasad must be pure, if somebody dose not cook it properly they have no right do do it, no matter if they are Brahman by birth or whatever

thanks for your opinion . personally i do not face any problem from this rule since im born into a brahmin family .

i must add that this rule applicable only when it comes to ritually consecrated(prana-pratishtha) deities , as in a temple . offering cooked food before non-consecrated deities or pictures are not considered a problem .
however is someone is a non-brahmin(by birth) and wants to have prana pratishtha done , he cannot offer anna-bhoga to the deity .

im eager for more views on this matter .

[upsydownyupsy mv ss]

hmmmm.... interesting...o.k o.k.... hmmm....
I'm a brahmin. What I think is any pure hearted devotee can offer food to god. KANNAPPA proved this by offering raw deer meat to shiva(even though he is the decomposer, destroyer and described as eater of all, just like fire during pralaya and also described as the man who consumes nothing). Anyone belonging to any varna(not caste) can offer food to god, as long as the devotion is pure with innocence. Devotion is the main theme not the food.
All of us are offering food to god every second, while breathing, while eating, while digesting, while decomposing(for decomposing animals), which assimilating, we all offer the food of devotion (= butter which krishna steals), we all offer our papas and punyas and beg to reach him, He doesn't need to eat, but eats all that we offer with a pure devoted heart, for our own benefit. Take the inner subtle meaning of offering food. Rules were set to avoid non-vegetarianism even in temples.
Om namah shivaya.

[vsharma]

In my village temple (both Siva and Vishnu), outside cooked food is not allowed neivedyam. Only food cooked inside the temple are only allowed as offering to the deity. It is irrespective of caste and every body has to follow the rules.

However fruits, coconut etc are allowed to be brought by everybody.

[sambya]

upsydownyupsy mv ss , thanks for your input .
i totally agree that true devotion to god can break all barriers . then it becomes irrelevant as to which caste you are in . i will narrate and interesting story in this aspect . it is not a fictional one but seen with my own eyes ---------

in a rural village in bengal there lived a low caste(tribal caste) devotee boy of kali . the local zamindars of the same village used to organise for a lavish kali puja every year at their palace . however the zamindars were of brahmin blood and didnt allow any one of non-brahmin origins to step into the main mandap . this little boy did step in by mistake and was promptly thrown out .

he went back sad and dejected and decided to have his own kali puja . he built a clay deity of mother kali with his own hands and started his own puja . the brahmins objected vehemently , but since his puja was a private affair , the voices subsided after a few years . slowly his devotion and dedication formed a small group of admirers around him . he didnt marry and lived his life like a saint . slowly monetary donations started coming in .

today the same clay deity that used to sit in his mud hut sits on a big stone temple on the same spot . the entire area of his home is converted into the likeness of an ashram , with trees and creepers surrounding the place . it also has a seprate radha krishna and shiva temples . it organises a lavish durga puja for public and public spiritual festivals . devotees come to sing at mangal arati in five o clock in morning and in sandhya arati during 6 oclock in evening ! every amvasya of every month about 1000 devotees and poor people take prasad from the temple !!
all these are funded by public donations . the temple is now a hit !!!

and today those same zamidars come to seek his blessings ! and man himself is about 60 years old and lives in a modest room below the garbhagriha of the temple --as if residing below his mothers feet .






but when it comes to ritualistic worship traditional rules prevail . that is what i was asking for .. whether the traditional rules are same in other parts also . as of now i see its mostly similar ......

[Sahasranama]

I am also a brahmin and I do not agree with this. I believe that food that is offered has to be pure, cooked when having showered, in clean pots and pans that are only used for prasada with only pure foods according to the scriptures. I have not read anywhere in the sciptures that only brahmanas can offer cooked food. Above all rules and regulations is bhakti. In the Ramayana shabari put the berries in her own mouth before she gave them to Sri Rama.