From Khaja Mithai To Chhena Poda, 7 Sweets Integral To The Mahaprasad

Chappan Bhog

Thali

The Mahaprasad Chappan Bhog refers to the daily offering at the Jagannath Puri Temple in Odisha. It includes 56 dishes (chappan refers to 56), served at different times during the day. The feast includes traditional food of Odisha; after it’s served to the Lords, it’s distributed among the thousands of devotees as mahaprasad. During the annual Puri Rath Yatra, the feast may include additional items that are relevant to a ritual but may not be available year-round. 

Among the traditional foods of Odisha, khaja mithai is a crispy, flaky pastry made of wheat flour and ghee and soaked in sugar syrup. It’s deep-fried, which gives the sweet its trademark texture. It is the most popular dry sweet served during the Chappan Bhog feast, also referred to as Sukhila Mahaprasad. As far as records go, this crispy, juicy treat originated about 2,000 years ago during the Mauryan period in Kalinga (present-day Odisha). 

Chhena Poda, which translates to "burnt cheese," is arguably one of the most popular traditional foods of Odisha. And it’s an integral part of the Mahaprasad Chappan Bhog feast as well, because it’s considered Lord Jagannath's favourite sweet. Made from fresh cottage cheese (chhena), this isn’t fried or boiled like most Indian sweets but rather slow-baked; it gives it a dark, smoky, caramelised crust while the inside remains soft and dense.

Rasagolla, also known as rasagulla, is a soft, spongy sweet made from chhena and boiled in sugar syrup. It is historically famous as the sweet Lord Jagannath offers to Goddess Lakshmi to enter the temple on Niladri Bije on the final day of the Puri Rath Yatra. Thus, it is typically not included in the daily Chappan Bhog feast but instead reserved for the annual Rath Yatra ritual. 

Chhena is the core of most sweets that make up the traditional food in Odisha, and thus comes up on the chappan bhog thali as well. Rasabali, in particular, are deep-fried chhena patties soaked in thick, sweetened, cardamom-flavoured milk (rabdi). It is part of the daily offering to Lord Balabhadra and included in both the Mahaprasad at Jagannath Puri and the offering at the Baladevjew Temple (dedicated to Lord Baladeva) in Kendrapara. 

Gaja, though often confused with Khaja mithai, is an entirely different Odia sweet. Traditional flour-based versions like Khira Gaja are prepared from a stiff dough of maida, shaped into small pieces, deep-fried until crisp, and coated or soaked in sugar syrup to create a rich, dense sweet. Another popular variation is Chhena Gaja, which is made from fresh chhena rather than flour. The Jagannath Temple Mahaprasad includes a flour-based variant called Dali Gaja, whose longer shelf life makes it well suited for distribution to devotees.

The soft, milk-based or chhena-based treats may take up a lot of space on the chappan bhog thali, but it’s incomplete without kora khai, a traditional food of Odisha. It’s made from khai (puffed rice), jaggery, cardamom, and coconut. The puffed rice is mixed with hot, bubbling jaggery and shaped into crispy balls or clusters. The cardamom and coconut provide aroma and texture, respectively. Unlike the softer chhena sweets, Kora Khai is prized for its harder, chewy bite. 

With the name, it’s obvious that this treat is part of the Mahaprasad chappan bhog. It is a traditional delicacy offered to Lord Jagannath and made from roasting wheat flour (atta) in ghee and setting it in a sweet, cardamom-spiced sugar syrup. It is like a dense, square-cut fudge, similar to an atta burfi. It is also one of the few non-chhena sweets on the list, though it’s just as dense as some of the others. 

The Mahaprasad of the Jagannath Temple is a cultural relic that holds profound spiritual and social significance. It is revered as "Anna Brahma" (food as the divine itself) and considered a way for devotees to connect with Lord Jagannath. Beyond its religious or spiritual importance is the fact that it preserves the history of food in Odisha, including indigenous dishes that rely on local produce and cooking techniques.