Nived

Nived dish recipies

The heart of every Hindu home is its mandir: the sacred space set for honouring and worshipping the Gods. The rituals are always meant to inculcate feelings of devotion and to bring about the divine orientation of human life.

The Nived that take place in the household mandir is the foundation of all family actions and decisions. The size and decoration of a household shrine do not matter. The mandir may be large and impressive, an entire room or a beautifully designed edifice, or it may be simply a tiny niche, or even just a row of religious prints pasted on a wall.

The children in the house grow up following family beliefs and are encouraged to participate in the Nived ceremony as they will find it personally inspiring. One or more family members on behalf of the whole family usually perform Nived at the household shrine. During the performance of the nived, offerings are made to different deities as mentioned above. The simplest form of nived is the domestic ritual performed by the householder who would offer simple oblation into the sacred fire lit in his house and pouring of offerings into them little bits of the food mentioned above, invoking various gods and deities.

Ritual

This is just a general guide.

A mandir for the nived will normally include following deities: Photograph of Maa Kuldevi ( If photo of Kuldevi is unavailable then use Ambe Maa ), Mataji’s Trishul (trident of Shiva), coconut, fruits and flowers. Prepared food for nived is placed near the mandir.

Aarti is the beautiful ceremony in which divas flames are offered to Mataji. Aarti is performed to God, in any manifestation, any form, by any name. The essence of the aarti ceremony is that all day long God offers us light – the light of the sun, the light of
life, the light of His (Her) blessings. Aarti is a time when we say “thank you,” and we offer back the light of our thanks, the light of our love and the light of our devotion.

Why do we offer food to the Lord or Deities before eating it?

Hindus make an offering of food to the Mataji, devtas and devis and later partake of it as prashad – a holy gift from our Lord. We offer nived (food) to the Kuldevi. What we receive in life as a result of our actions is really our Ma. We acknowledge this through the act of offering food to our Kuldevi, Istdev, Pitru Dev (for fathers) and other deities.

After offering the food thus, it is eaten as prashad – blessed food.

We hope the above information have enlightened you about the significance of Nived.

The essence of Nived is to maintain the feeling of surrender and dedication to Mataji and will fill our lives with knowledge, understanding, devotion and love. The mental calm and tranquillity one experience after performing Nived is to be experienced to believe it.

In addition, 2 coconuts (Jod Nadyer)

Dishes for Mataji Nived

For Mataji Nived we offer a steel plate of

1) Kheer
2) Rotli
3) Ladoo/Ladva
4) Kachi Lapsi
5) Mithu Bhaat
6) Ketaliya ni Khichdi – Nimak Vaghar
7) Harta Farta na Talvat (Tal no bhuko kari ne)
8) Kang no Kular
9) Khichdo (Akha safed juwar ni)

Kheer
Rice Pudding
Ingredients: Basmati Rice, Full Fat Milk, Sugar, Ghee, Water

  • Take one and a quarter handfuls of rice, wash and parboil.
  • Using the milk measure double the amount of milk to rice and warm on a gentle heat.
  • Add the rice and allow to simmer on a gentle heat.
  • Add sugar to taste. Once the milk evaporates and thickens the Kheer is ready.
  • Serve in a steel bowl and pour a small amount of Ghee on top.

Rotli
Chapati
Ingredients: Chapatti Flour, Ghee, Hot water

  • Clean a surface to roll dough, typically a round wooden board called a ‘patlo’ is used for this.
  • Take one and a quarter handfuls of flour and a small amount of Ghee as the ‘Moun’ (Shortness) and mix the two with your fingers until it has a consistency similar to breadcrumbs, add more Ghee if required.
  • Add hot water and knead it until it starts to become very slightly sitcky. (Add more flour if it’s too wet.)
  • Pull a small portion of dough and dust it in flour.
  • Flatten it slightly with your hand on your rolling surface, and roll out until about ~2mm thick. Making sure it doesn’t stick by adding more flour to the board or dough as required.
  • Once it has been rolled flat, place it on a pre-heated frying pan (lodi) and cook rotli on both sides.
  • For the offering, you must have 5 ‘Pars’ sides served next to the Kheer on a steel plate.
  • If they don’t peel make sure you add more Ghee & dry flour

Ladoo/Ladva
Ingredients: Chapatti Flour, Ghee, Hot water

  • Make the dough of a chappati as described above.
  • Instead of making ~2mm thick chapattis we make ~5mm thick, this is sometimes called Bhakri (a thick rotli)
  • As the dough is thicker it a lower heat must be used so it cooks through.
  • Once cooked break the Bhakri’s and grind to large lentil size granules.
  • To the mixture add some warm Jaggery & Ghee to taste.
  • Split the mixture into equal portions and start forming round balls with them. The Jaggery and Ghee will bind it together.
  • For the offering you must have 2 Ladvas served on a steel plate.
  • If the balls are breaking often at add a little more Jaggery and Ghee to aid binding.

Kachi lot ni Lapsi
Uncooked Lapsi
Ingredients: Broken Wheat, Water, Jaggery & Ghee,

  • Take a one and a quarter handfuls of Broken wheat, and place into a small pan.
  • Begin to roast flour in at a low heat, continuously stirring, until the colour turns light brown.
  • In a cup of hot water add some Gor & Ghee (to taste).
  • Add the mixture to the dry roasted flour and stir quickly, the grains will start soaking the liquid and begin to thicken.
  • Serve in a steel bowl with some ghee to the top.
  • This is made using raw flour.
  • This procedure is similar to making a Seero.

Mithu Bhaat
Sweet Rice
Ingredients: Basmati rice, Water, Jaggery & Ghee

  • To prepare the Chokha, take one and a quarter handfuls of the Basmati Rice and wash it thoroughly.
  • Add this mixture with water in a to a pot and bring it to boil.
  • Once it has cooked and there is no more water add some Jaggery & Ghee to taste.
  • Serve in a steel bowl.

Ketaliya ni Khichdi – Nimak Vaghar
Mung Khichdi – without salt
Ingredients: Basmati Rice, Split Mung Bean, Water

  • Measure out a one and a quarter handfuls of rice & mung dal and mix (1:1 ratio) and it wash thoroughly.
  • Add this mixture with water in a to a pot and bring it to boil.
  • Once it has begun to boil let it simmer until both ingredients have cooked.
  • Serve in a steel bowl.

Harta Farta na Talvat (Tal no bhuko kari ne)
Sweet Sesame and Jaggery
Ingredients: White sesame seeds, Jaggery

  • Put a one and a quarter handfuls of Sesame seeds in Mortar and crush the seeds with a Pestle.
  • Add some Jaggery to the mortar and crush it in.
  • Once the Jaggery has broken down/melted and sessame mix is ready.
  • Serve in a steel bowl.

Kang no Kular
Foxtail Millet Porridge
Ingredients: Kang (Foxtail Millet) & Water, Jaggery and Ghee to add after cooking

  • Take one and a quarter handfuls of the Kang and wash thoroughly
  • Add the kang to a pressure cooker with water triple the height of the Kang and steam for about 30 mins.
  • Add some Jaggery and Ghee on top.
  • Serve in a steel bowl.

Khichdo (Akha safed juwar ni)
Sorghum and Rice Porridge
Ingredients: Jowar (Sorghum Flour) & Water

  • Take one and a quarter handfuls of the Juwar and wash thoroughly.
  • Add the rice to pressure cooker with water triple the height of the Juwar and steam for about 15mins.
  • Serve in a steel bowl.
  • If you leave the raw granules in water for a couple hours before hand it will cook quicker.

Version 2

Item – Which deity

Kheer Rotli – Harsidhi Mataji
Ladva – Ganesh Bapa
Lapsi 1 – Shikotra Ma
Lapsi 2 – Vachra Dada
Bhat 1 – Surapura Bapa
Bhat 2 – Suripuri Maa
Kular – Kang Ni Chamunda Maa
Khichadi – Khetalia bapa
Talvat – Hartafarta

As mentioned earlier, this information should be used only as a general guide. Food for nived varies with each family. Families do not need to use all the above food for Nived. Each has its own traditions. So is better to follow each family’s traditional ritual.

Portions for Nived: – In the old days of the traditional family when 35-40 family members used to live together under one roof, the portions of each dish used to be large. Now with the break up of such a traditional family, the portion of each dish should be prepared according to

the number of family members. One needs to ensure that the dishes are carefully prepared with love and devotion. The amount of food should not be prepared in an excess amount. As this blessed food is later retrieved after the Nived and consumed ,so must not be wasted.