‘Dhanu Muan’ maintains its sweet charm for 200 years

Berhampur: ‘Dhanu Muan’, a traditional 200-year-old crunchy sweet made from popped rice and caramelised jaggery or sugar, flooded Berhampur market on Monday during ‘Dhanu Sankranti’ and arrival of Odia month of Pausa (December to January).

‘Muan’ is prepared and sold for one month between ‘Dhanu Sankranti’ and ‘Makar Sankranti’ every year, but the demand continues for about 40 days. More than 5,000 kg ‘Muan’ is prepared everyday during the season. It is prepared by using ‘desi ghee’, topped with coconut, cashew, almond and ground nut.

Popped rice is stirred with ghee and sugar in a gigantic hot utensil at a temperature of more than 100 degrees Celsius. When the popped rice becomes soft, it is moulded and pressed in different shapes with sprinkling of coconut chunks fried with ghee. Nowadays cherries are also added.

‘Dhanu Muan’ is the most favourite item of Goddess Maa Tara Tarini and Goddess Budhi Thakurani of Berhampur. The sweet was prepared in Ganjam district for ritualistic offering to the deities on Dhanu Sankranti. The farmers offer ‘Muan’ to the Goddess to be blessed for another bumper crop next year. They also present ‘Muan’ to their family members, relatives and friends as a goodwill gesture.

Anataram Kar Kaundinya, a renowned researcher of culture and history of Ganjam, said the origin of ‘Muan’ dates back to more than 200 years when the ‘Gudia’ community, who generally prepare sweets which is their family tradition, used ‘Magura’, a scented and hard variety of paddy produced near Berhampur, to make popped rice. ‘Muan’ was prepared from the new paddy after harvesting. They prepare ‘Muan’, supply it to every household throughout the month to facilitate the villagers to offer the sweet to Goddess and receive paddy from the villagers at the month-end in return. As a tradition in Ganjam, the father sends ‘Muan’ bhara to the in-laws’ house of his married daughter, said Anataram.

The ‘Sadhabas,’ who sailed throughout Southeast Asia for maritime trade from the ancient ports of Ganjam, also took ‘Muan’ with them, he said. ‘Muan’ was prepared by using jaggery or ‘nabata’ in the past. The sweet manufacturers of Ganjam were the first ones in Odisha to use sugar to prepare ‘Muan’ by replacing traditional jaggery after the first sugar mill on the eastern coast came up at Aska in Ganjam district in 1963. The traditional sweet has undergone a change in taste and looks. While jaggery has been replaced with sugar, ghee instead of oil is used to prepare the delicacy.

Though varieties of ‘Muan,’ including ‘Sada Muan’, ‘Masala Muan’, ‘Ghee Muan’, ‘Kaju Muan’ and ‘Guda Muan’ have flooded the market, ‘Ghee Muan’ is in great demand, said manufactures. Balaji Mistan Bhandar, Mukta Sweets and Sahu Sweets are rolling out the highest quantities of ‘Ghee Muan’ in Berhampur.

More than 200 units in Berhampur are producing ‘Muan.’ Some families are also engaged in making ‘Muan’. Though producing popped rice from paddy was done manually, some machines have now been set up in Berhampur to produce popped rice with ease.

The price of ‘Dhanu Muan’ has increased by Rs 50 this year due to rise in the price of ghee, coconut and the cost of labour. Special ‘Ghee Muan’ is being sold at Rs 500 per kg. Other varieties of ‘Muan’ are priced at Rs 240 per kg. ‘Muan’ is available in 2 kg, 1 kg, 500 gram and 250 gram packets. After packaging, ‘Muan’ can be consumed for six months, sources said.