Annadhanam to the Kurava clan

A wealthy landlord in Thanjavur district had undertaken the biksha on that day. Paramacharya had ordered him to prepare a large number of laddus.


Only a small group of people which included SriMatam officials and the family and relatives of the host was present for the dinner on that day. The landlord couldn’t understand the reason for the large number of laddus. Perhaps Paramacharya wished to send the pack to an orphanage or a vedic institution, he thought.

Contrary to his wont, Paramacharya supervised the diner’s rows. He ordered for serving two and more laddus to each diner, even if they were in excess, ignoring the individual’s protests.

After making another strange announcement, Paramacharya went to his room. The anouncement was that it was not compulsory to eat all the laddus though Periyavaa himself ordered it, and that the excess numbers might be wasted!

Nobody could understand the strange announcement from Paramacharya who usually advises children that anna lakshmi should not be sent to the dust bins. Everyone had to leave the excess number of laddus on their banana leaves.

Since it was an order from Paramacharya, the laddus were made professionally, embedded with cashew nuts, dry grapes, clove, and cardamom. Now these embeddings from the leftover laddu globes were winking at the landlord, who tried to pacify his mind that Paramacharya wouldn’t order anything without a valid reason.

Later, during his conversation with the host, Paramacharya told the landlord, “Go and check the backyard where the leftovers are thrown.”

When the landlord went to the backyard, he saw familes of the kurava clan avidly eating the left over laddus. As they saw the landlord, they heartily thanked him for the tasty dish that was never before served to them.

The landlord felt happy and grateful. When he returned to Paramacharya, the sage said, “As per their kula dharma, these kurava clan prefer only ucchishtam. They wouldn’t consent to have an anna dhanam. Such is the rule among them. Don’t they have the same mouth and stomach as we? It occurred to me to give them the same kind ofladdus that we have in our dinner. And I thought only you could do it well. Now, only you have their good wishes.”