Gokulashtami Celebration

Janmastami, Gokulaastami, Sri Jayanthi,Krishna Jayanthi,, these are the terms used to describe the birth of Lord Krishna. Those who have any photo of Lord Krishna's : Crawling Krishna, with Radhe, or only Krishna can place the photo on a pedestal and do the pooja. 

For the tiny crawilng  Krishna , you can make a seat or jula and place a small silk piece of cloth as the cushion. Those who do not have any Lord Krishna's photos can do so with any form of Lord  Maha Vishnu. 

As per the tradition the pooja is always done in the evening .I do in th evening the time when the cows come back after grazing ,so preferably by 6 pm the pooja starts. I like this pooja because  I get the whole day to prepare in a systematic way. The kolam at the entrance is the padikkolam and from the center of it starts Baby Krishna's feet .Either I draw the tiny feet or use my fist to soak in the rice flour mixture and keep making theimpressions on the floor with equal intervals. It stops in the pooja room. 

Keep the things needed for the pooja and also read the pooja vidhanam a day before to keep them  in order.

The dry sweets and snacks like seedai, murukku of all varieties, sweets should be ready , for that you can prepare a day or two before and store them if you can't do it on the day of the pooja.

The fresh ones are paal /  aval payasam / kesari, butter,, curd, milk. Fruits of all types and varieties along with the vethilai paakku and coconut are to be kept ready. 

After the bath the pooja can be performed and apart from the Krishna's astothiram Vishnu Saharanaamam can also be chanted. Songs of Krishna can be sung or played on tape. Small children can be dressed as Lord Krishna and they would be excited to dress up so.

If you have small kids they can join the elders in the pooja. As incentives for their cooperation [ normally kids cannot wait for the pooja to get over as they have the seedai in mind to eat.] What one can do is to get small plastic dabbas and keep assorted sweets and savories for them and give them in the box itself their quota. They would be thrilled to get them offered in dabbas instead of regular plates or ' kai'.

Call small kids from your neighborhood  and offer them the sweets and savories .

Things to make on Janmastami day , one can pick and choose from the list :

vella seedai, 

uppu seedai,

then kuzhal

mutsaarai

thattai

kolavadai

omapodi

ribbon 

Mysore pak

Coconut  Barfi

Chocolate cake

7 cup cake

 boondilaadu

rava laadu,

maa laadu

Wash ordinary rice and drain then grind it wet. After wards, sieve it and keep it. Spread it on a paper  then slightly dry roast. . or wash and drain the rice. Dry roast the rice to getrid of the moisture and then grind later to sieve. [I prefer the first method.]
Take urad daal and dry roast and powder it nicely and set aside.

For both uppu and vella seedai , the flour should be very very fine and smooth otherwise there are chances of the seedai to burst. The flame should not be high and it should be in medium to get the color and to get the inside of the seedai cooked.  The seedai  ball should not be tightly rounded and it should be without any cracks.

Then kuzhal 
rice: urad daal 4:1

add til [ellu] crushed jeera, and butter and salt to taste.

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thattai 

 method 1 

rice and wheat flour equal
half of the measure pottu kadalai powder.
1 karandi powdered curry leaves, hing ,butter,salt 

method 2

rice flour 500 grams

chanadal powder /besan 100 gms  

urad dal powder 100 gms. 

hing, butter, curry leaves  salt to taste.

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kola vadai

 maida and rice equal proportion 
rava 1 table spoon
1 tsp butter

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ribbon :

rice 3 cups, besan 3 1/2 cups
 ...............................

oma podi :
besan 3

rice 1 
ajwain/ omam 50 gms

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7 cup cake i
1 cup fresh besan [ kadalai mavu ] 
1 cup ghee
1 cup boiled milk
1 cup grated coconut
3 cups sugar
powdered cardamom, broken cashewnuts and badams. 

First mix besan and milk nicely so that no lumps are formed and then add all the other ingredients and keep it on the lighted stove and start stirring. They will leave sides as they do for any sweet preparations. 

Grease a plate and pour this finished mixture and after it gets cooled cut them into pieces of the required sizes. 

For mutsarai 3 cups rice, 1 cup each of besan, urad daal and moong daal powder. Jeera crushed. butter

Those who are in Bangalore can get ready made assorted Janmastami snacks from Adayar Ananda Bhavan , provided one goes and gets it early, it's sold a day before the festival.I do not know much about other places. 

While praying pray for all and the world to be out of all negative aspects. Just like how Lord Krishna became the saviour or Pandavas He should also become one for all of us.

Happy Janmastami