Custodians of Western Odisha’s Shakar Patti custom
3 min readExpress News Service
BARGARH: Celebration of Holi in Western Odisha – Sambalpur and Bargarh particularly – is incomplete with out providing of a standard candy ‘Shakar Patti’ to Maa Samaleswari, the presiding deity of the area.
The custom, although, is fading into oblivion with only some ‘gudia’ (a neighborhood whose conventional occupation is sweet-making) households of Lastala village in Bargarh district making the delicacy.
Made of jaggery, the standard candy is simply ready throughout this time of the 12 months to be supplied to the deity on the day of Phagun Purnima. Lastala village, 15 km from Bargarh city, was as soon as dwelling to fifteen ‘gudia’ households which used to produce Shakar Patti all through Western Odisha.
Of the 15, solely three households from the village proceed to make the candy now. Among them, 75-year-old Suresh Chandra Sahu is the oldest sweet-maker and he has been making Shakar Patti for the final 5 many years with the assistance of his household.
The preparation is cumbersome, mentioned Suresh, including {that a} single batch of 10 kg Shakar Patti on a median, takes two days to be utterly prepared. The jaggery is first melted over firewood and as soon as executed, the molten liquid is cooled right down to be kneaded right into a dough-like consistency.
“Then comes the hardest part where the dough is clinged to a hook on the wall and stretched several times till the caramel-coloured jaggery turns golden and appears like a bundle of threads. The threads are then coiled into round shape and sun dried for a day,” mentioned Suresh.
The Sahu household lived in Lastala however shifted to Bargarh a couple of years again after Suresh’s son obtained a job as the top clerk in SDJM Court. Though Suresh stopped making all different sweets after shifting to the city, he unfailingly prepares Shakar Patti throughout Holi with the aim of protecting the custom alive.
“Every year, we think we would not be able to make Shakar Patti because of the tiring process. But the tradition has to be kept alive and we end up doing it year after year,” mentioned Suresh who with the assistance of his household begins making the candy a month previous to Holi.
They make 10 to twenty kgs of Shakar Patti day by day and on a median, produce 3 to 4 quintals each season. The high quality and style of the candy is such that the household will get patrons from not simply Bargarh but in addition Sambalpur, Sonepur, Balangir and Boudh districts. “The demand for Shakar Patti was even more a few years back,” mentioned Suresh who sells a kg of Shakar Patti at `140 to `160 and makes a revenue of a minimum of Rs 25,000 on the overall produce.
“This is not just a sweet but a tradition for us. I am the third generation ‘gudia’ making this sweet and now my son also makes it. Even my grandchildren are helping us in the process,” he mentioned. Considering the tedious course of, the apply of constructing and providing Shakar Patti to the Goddess too has been fading with time. The two different households who make the candy have scaled down the manufacturing drastically. Although Suresh has been making it with the assist of his household, he’s unsure about how lengthy the custom would proceed.
“This tradition needs to be preserved as it is a part of our cultural history. Unfortunately, youngsters are not willing to learn how to make it and in a few years, they will forget that such a sweet even existed,” he mentioned.
