The village feast

Manisha Gangahar

Sitting cross-legged on floor comes easy but what follows is slightly challenging for the city-bred eight-year-old Adhrit. It is his first experience at dham. With much enthusiasm, he positions himself for the Himachali ritual of a feast — posture is important. The modern upbringing has thankfully made space for some indigenous traditions. “I too will eat with hands,” he announces. “But give me a little,” he remembers to convey as he negotiates through his pattal, a leaf plate. He has already been warned against wasting any food. “It is not appreciated!” he repeats the instruction for everyone.

The traditional feast, called dham, is usually the highpoint of a visit home for most city Himachalis. “There is always a dham taking place back home and it is an open invitation to all to attend,” says Suman Sharma, who was born in Solan and is married in Kullu. “It is customary to pack for those left behind at home,” she quickly adds.

Only Brahmin cooks, known as botis, can prepare and serve dham. Anil Bhardwaj, fourth generation of a boti family in Kullu, candidly shares: “Being a boti is a lifestyle, not a profession.” From observing a strict dress code of dhoti, kurta and parna, the botis, especially those associated with devta dhams, were not allowed to marry out of their caste. We still cook barefoot, wearing a janeyu (sacred thread) and do not use onion and garlic.”

The delicacies of Himachali dhams actually vary from one part of the state to the other. A typical feast starts with rice served with a rajma or chickpea madra (cooked in yoghurt), followed a dal and kadhi. Towards the end are served khatta (sour preparation) and meetha — sweet rice — or mithdee, made of boondi. All preparations revel in their own flavour.

Madra is flavoured through smoked cooking, where mustard oil is poured over pieces of burning coal and hung in the dal without dipping it in. The cooking pot is then covered for a while to get the smoky flavour infused in the lentil. “We call it dhuni technique,” says a younger boti, Bhimraj, who is beginning to carry forward the family inheritance. “When I was young, my father would drag me along in the wee hours of the morning on the day of dham. It would be a huge village affair. Everybody would come together, borrow and lend huge utensils of brass and copper. Everyone would be keen to lend a hand — from chopping vegetables to piling up leaf plates, laying the floor mats or cleaning the temple. Now, it is more professionally done,” recalls Bhimraj.

“Today, as we sit in long queues (called paints), it is hunger that reigns supreme and the thought of that sumptuous chana khatta pushes everything else aside,” says Manik Bhardwaj as he builds a pyramid of rice for his son to indulge in and savour the tradition. He reminisces his own childhood, how his father had passed on the instructions — “You aren’t supposed to touch the boti or his utensils; use all four fingers; show some gratitude...” 

While the dham goes on till four in the evening, starting around noon, the queues hardly get shorter, adds Suman. “The entire paint sits and gets up together. Even if one finishes early, he waits for the others to do so, then wrap the pattal to trash it. The place is wiped clean before the next paint settles down.” Be it a wedding ceremony, a festival of the devta or mourning, dham is an essential feature.

Today, tradition has been diluted. Dham has been transformed into a thali and introduced at tourist halts. Chandermohan Chauhan is rather saddened when asked about dham. “It isn’t the same,” the octogenarian minces no words. “Paper plate is a horrendous replacement of the pattal, the mud trenches in which they used to cook are gone, and they have introduced spoons, the tradition is getting corrupted.” Lamenting the loss of practices that ensured nutrition and were environment friendly, Chandermohan points out that now standing buffets are preferred to the sitting dham, which is nothing but imitating the West. 

But a look at young Adhrit and you see hope that the tradition has survived for now and shall continue to be… The modern may catch up, but the old too will find its way. 

In history

The erstwhile king of Himachal Pradesh, Jaistambh, was so fascinated by the Kashmiri wazwan that he ordered his cooks to prepare a similar lavish meal without using meat. Thus, a new menu evolved in Himachali cuisine, which eventually came to be known as dham. But it isn’t confined only to the mortals. It began as prasad offered to the lords in temples on special occasions and it continues even today. Interestingly, only Brahmin cooks known as botis can prepare and serve dham.