Lord Krishna deity in ISKCON temple
Kattu Saadham also known as ‘KattuChoru’ means ‘PackedFood’, and it is usually taken by the ancient travellers along with them in order to eat the food in between the middle of their travels. This type of practice was mentioned even in our ancient epics like Ramayana, Bhagavatham and Mahabharata, and while Rama was about to leave from the palace, in order to spend his exile term in the forest, it was his beloved mother Ma Kausalyawho had given few food packets consisting of curd rice to Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, for the purpose of consuming the food in between their travel. When Lord Rama and others were halted for some time at the place of the noble Tribal Chief, Guha, he also gave some food items to Rama and others, in order to make them to consume it at his place, and apart from that, he also gave some food packets consisting of honey made items and some cooked rice items to Rama in order to make him to eat during the time of his travel. Likewise, when Pandavas were about to leave from their palace, in order to spend their exile term in the forest, it was the great Vidura, who had specially arranged to prepare some delicious food items at his palace, and gave it to the Pandavas.
Most of the ancient male householders used to travel for a long distance due to business purposes, and during those times, they would be taking sufficient quantity of food packets with them, and it would be mostly prepared by their affectionate wives, in order to make their consorts not to starve from hunger during the time of their travel. Lord Krishna and Balarama also used to carry food packets along with them, during the times of grazing the Cattles.
But at the present period, excepting a few people, most of the people are not interested to carry food packets with them, and the main reason for that is, due to the disinterest in eating food prepared at their homes during the times of their journeys. Some of them used to tell, “At least during the time of my journeys, I want to taste different, different food items in the hotels”.
But it is always highly recommended to carry few food packets along with us, during the times of our travels, since food prepared by our dear ones would always taste good, than that of the hotel food.
“OM SRI VINAYAKAYA NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR