फलम् नैवेद्यम् च (phalam, naivedyam ca)

Continuing on from the previous post, I will present in this post a list of commonly offered fruits and food items. नैवेद्यम् (naivedyam) is upacArA 14. Paraphrasing the earlier reference document, this upacAra is mentioned in sutrA 41 of the bhAvanopanishat and is the following:

समस्तयातायात वर्जनम् नैवेद्यम्

samastayAtAyAta varjanam naivedyam

Overcoming the temptations of the indriyAs and offering and renouncing our worldly pleasures and desires is the significance of naivedyam.

The reference to indriyAs is because food involves all our senses: we see it, we smell it, we taste it, we touch it and also hear it during the chewing process. Any food item that gratifies all these senses naturally appeals to us. So, by offering naivedyam we symbolically renounce these pleasures and simply partake in whatever God gives us back.

Typically naivedyam consists of fruits, milk and milk products and various cooked delicacies. The assortment of these food items varies depending on the occasion and the presiding deity. I have compiled a list that includes as many of these items as I can think of. The list of fruits is the following.

Fruits

1. Grape	द्राक्षा फलम् (drAkshA phalam)
2. Mango	आम्र फलम् (Amra phalam)
3. Coconut (broken)	नारिकेल खण्डम् (nArikela khaNDam)
4. Jackfruit	पनस फलम् (panasa phalam)
5. Banana	कदली फलम् (kadalI phalam)
6. Lemon fruit	जम्बीर फलम् (jambIra phalam)
7. Wood apple (vlampazham)	कपित्थ फलम् (kapittha phalam)
8. Rose apple (panneer koyya)	जम्बु फलम् (jambu phalam)
9. Gooseberry	आमलक फलम् (Amalaka phalam)
10. Jujube	बदर फलम् (badara phalam)
11. Pomegranate	दाडिम फलम् (dADima phalam)
12. Apple	सेव फलम् (seva phalam)
13. Guava	बीजपूर फलम् (bIjapUra phalam)
14. Pineapple	अनास फलम् (anAsa phalam)
15. Sugarcane	इक्षु फलम् (ikshu phalam)
16. Orange	नारङ्ग् फलम् (nArangga phalam)
17. Custard apple (sitaa pazham)	गण्डगात्र फलम् (gaNDagAtra phalam)
18. Dates	खर्जूर फलम् (kharjUra phalam)

Dairy products and some other ingredients used either as naivedyam or to perform abshishekam (snAnam) are the following:

1. Milk	क्षीरम् (kshIram)
2. Curd	दधि (dadhi)
3. Buttermilk	तक्रम् (takram)
4. Butter	नवनीतम् (navanItam)
5. Ghee	धृतम् (dhrutam)
6. Cheese	दधिकम् (dadhikam)
7. Paanakam	पानकम् (pAnakam)
8. Oil	तैलम् (tailam)
9. Honey	मधु (madhu)
10. Turmeric	हरिद्रा (haridrA)

For the list of cooked delicacies, I have mostly included only the Tamil names on the left hand side for the sake of brevity! Performing an image search on these names in Google will surely clarify your doubts if you are not sure about any of them. The list is the following:

1. Vadai	माषापूपम् (maShApUpam)
2. Adirsam	गुडापूपम् (guDApUpam)
3. Adai	अपूपम् (apUpam)
4. Vennpongal	मुग्धान्नम् (mugdhAnnam)
5. Chakkarai pongal	गुडान्नम् (guDAnnam)
6. Paal payasam	क्षीरपायसम् (kShIrapAyasam)
7. Vella payasam	गुडपायसम् (guDapAyasam)
8. Kozhukattai	मोदकम् (modakam)
9. Idli	अपूपम्  (apUpam)
10. Cooked white rice	शाल्यन्नम् (shAlyannam)
11. Cooked colored rice	चित्रान्नम् (citrAnnam)
12. Curd rice	दध्योन्नम् (dadhyonnam)
13. Coconut rice	नारिकेलान्नम् (nArikelAnnam)
14. Rice flakes (aval)	पृथुकम् (prthukam)
14. All bakshanams	भक्ष्यविसेषम् (bakshyavisheSham)

To conclude, here is the naivedya mantram:

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः।	Om bhurbhuvaH svaH
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम्	tatsaviturvareNyam
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि।	bhargo devasya dhImahi
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात्॥	dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt
देव सवितः प्रसुवा ।	deva savitaH prasuvA
सत्यम् त्वर्तेन परिशिन्चामि ।	satyam tvartena parishincAmi
अमृतोपस्तरणमसि॥	amrutopastaraNamasi
ॐ प्राणाय स्वाः ।	Om prANAya svAH
ॐ अपानाय स्वाः ।	Om apAnAya svAH
ॐ व्यानाय स्वाः ।	Om vyAnAya svAH
ॐ उदानाय स्वाः ।	Om udAnAya svAH
ॐ समानाय स्वाः ।	Om samAnAya svAH
ॐ ब्रह्मणे स्वाः ।	Om brahmaNe svAH

There is, as always, an explanation for the above mantram also. I will not get into it now, but will try to do so later when I talk about the Gayatri mantram in greater detail. Finally, after we are done offering food to god, we need to offer Him tAmbUlam as per upacArA 15. The tAmbUla mantram is the following:

पूगी फल समायुक्तम्।	pUgI phala samAyuktam
नागवल्ली दलै युर्थम्।	nAgavallii dalai yurtham
कर्पूर चूर्ण सन्युक्तम्।	karpUracUrNa sanyuktam
ताम्बूलम् प्रति गृह्यताम्॥	tAmbUlam prati grhyatAm