The panchamirtham is a temple prasadam that is given at Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple at Palani in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu.
It is the first temple prasadam in the State to have bagged the Geographical Indication tag. The panchamirtham is an ‘abhishega prasadam’, a religious food offering made to the presiding deity - Lord Dhandayuthapani Swamy.
Every day, around 500 grams of panchamirtham is used in the abhishegam to the processional deity.
What makes this temple prasadam unique?
The secret of this unique taste in every batch lies in blending five main ingredients in precise ratio. This includes banana, country-sugar, ghee, honey and cardamom. In the early days, hill banana and honey, which are found in abundance in the mountainous region near Palani, were used to make the prasadam.
It is believed that panchamirtham came into being in the 9th Century AD. References to the prasadam were found in Tamil literature such as Nakkeerar’s Thirumurugattrupadai and Arunagirinathar’s Thiruppugazh.
How is the panchamirtham made?
To make a set comprising 1,020 pet jars and 1,060 aluminium cans of panchamirtham, the kitchen needs 288 kg of country-sugar, 152 kg of peeled banana, 6 kg of ghee, 2 kg of honey and 0.50 kg of cardamom as well as 25 kg of dates and 15 kg of diamond sugar candy.
One of the primary ingredients, country-sugar, also called ‘naatu sakkarai’, is procured every week from the regulated market at Kavindapadi in Erode district. The big heaps of raw bananas are stored in a godown not far away from the main kitchen. Women peel the ripe bananas and put them in cans.
Through a small elevator, they are dropped in a grinder. The bananas are then smashed in a mixer and added to the ingredients, including dates, cardamom and sugar candy in an automated production. Once they are blended for five minutes, naatu sakkarai is added to the gooey paste, followed by honey and ghee.
The mixture is boiled for 45 minutes to achieve the right consistency of a semi-solid state without any preservatives or artificial additives.
Arranged in big baskets, the packed prasadham is stacked on shelves at the retail outlets at Adivaram run by the temple administration. The temple administration also door-delivers the prasadam through Speed Post by tying up with India Post. The booking can be made at post offices across the country for ₹250 as well as on the official website of the temple.
Reporting: R. Jayashree
Voiceover & Production: Abhinaya Sriram
Videos: G. Karthikeyan
