Panihati Cida Dahi Festival is a sweet summer festival. Although Summer is not very welcome due to heat, yet summer festivals have a unique flavor in itself. This is the season of king of fruits- Mangoes, jack fruit, litchis … and Panihati festival is all about feasting on cooling yogurt, chipped rice and fruits!!

Sitting on the banks of Ganges, in the holy town of Panihati, 500 years ago, Sri Nityananda Prabhu inaugurated Chipped rice, yogurt, fruits feast festival , by showing mercy to Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami .

Cida Dahi festival is very special in Mayapur. Every year, devotees from Mayapur visit Panihati on this day to join the celebration & also gather in large numbers to honor Cida dahi feast on the banks of Ganges at Prabhupada ghat in Mayapur. Students of Sri Mayapur International School every year enthusiastically paint the pots, prepare varieties of cida dahi, enact dramas, sing bhajans and celebrate this festival. This year , with the current pandemic lock down situation, devotees in Mayapur are remorseful that they cannot personally take part in this joyful festival.

HH Jayapataka Swami’s presence in Mayapur for this year festival is making it special and this is a solace for devotees. Maharaja announced in yesterday’s facebook class on the Cida dahi festival 2020 plan in Mayapur. ( Given below is his message..).

Even though the devotees  cannot come to temple for more than 2 months now, HH Jayapataka Swami would like to make an offering to Panca tattva and send Cida dahi prasada to community devotees. Therefore, Mayapur Festival Committee is soliciting kind donations from devotees worldwide so that we can reach Cida dahi prasad to over 5000 devotees in Mayapur.

“On the 4th of June apparently, this year they are having the Pānihāṭi utsava, and I normally would be either in Pānihāṭi or in Atlanta, New Pānihāṭi dhāma, but this year due to the lockdown, I will be in Māyāpur. So, we want to observe here, the ciḍā-dahi festival. So, this is an opportunity if any devotees want to sponsor part of this feast. This is very dear to Lord Nityānanda, and He was punishing Raghunātha dāsa, He said, “Your punishment is, feed Me and My associates a flat rice, yogurt, fruits, feast.” So, the Pānihāṭi utsava is also knows as the Danḍa-mahotsava. So, who wants to share the punishment of Raghunātha dāsa? You can participate in this festival! We know that the punishment of Lord Nityānanda is simply mercy. By receiving this so called, punishment, he got the prasāda of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda, and he achieved the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. So, we are very glad to be offering this festival to the Pañca-tattva. But we don’t know how we will do it in the lockdown. We will try to obtain the flat rice and the yogurt, and after the Amphan cyclone we don’t know if there are any mangoes on the trees. But whatever mangoes, jackfruits and lichis and bananas are there, we will try to offer. So, if anyone wants to, they can see the Mayapur.com and they can sponsor under Food for Life or Deity worship or something for the ciḍā-dadhi festival. Right now, we don’t have the option I think.”

- HH Jayapatala Swami, 29 May 2020.

Panihati Lila from Chaitanya Charitamrita

Raghunatha dasa brought chipped rice, yogurt, milk. sweetmeats, sugar, bananas and ether eatables and placed them all around. As soon as they heard that a festival was going to be held, all kinds of brahmanas and other gentlemen began to arrive. Thus there were innumerable people. Seeing the crowd increasing, Raghunatha dasa arranged to get more eatables from other villages. He also brought two to four hundred large, round pots. He also obtained five or seven especially large earthen pots, and in these pots a brahmana began soaking chipped rice for the satisfaction of Lard Nityananda.

In one place, chipped rice was soaked in hot milk in each of the large pots. then half the rice was mixed with yogurt, sugar and bananas. The other half was mixed with condensed milk and a special type of banana known as canpa-kala. Then sugar, clarified butter and camphor were added. After Nityananda Prabhu had changed His cloth far a new one and sat on a raised platform, the brahmana brought before Him the seven huge pots.

On that platform all the most important associates of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, as well as ether important men, sat down in a circle around the Lord. Among them were Ramadasa, Sundarananda, Gadadhara dasa, Murari, Kamalakara, Sadasiva and Purandara. Dhananjaya, Jagadisa, Paramesvara dasa, Mahesa, Gauridas and Hoda Krsnadasa were also there, Similarly, Uddharana Datta Thakura and many other personal associates of the Lord sat on the raised platform with Nityananda Prabhu. No one could count them all.

Hearing about the festival, all kinds of learned scholars, brahmanas and priests went there, Lord Nityananda Prabhu honored them and made them sit on the raised platform with Him. Everyone was offered two earthen pots. In one was put chipped rice with condensed milk and in the ether chipped rice with yogurt. All the other People sat in groups around the platform. No one could count how many people there were. Each and every one of them was supplied two earthen pots, one of chipped rice soaked in yogurt and the other of chipped rice soaked in condensed milk.

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