On ashadha shukla dwadashi, after the ‘suna besha’, the 3 lords, weary after their 9 day sojourn, are taken off the chariots on the return pahandi into the Shri Mandira. Before they embark they are served the ‘adhara pana’ … a sherbet kind of drink made of milk, cream, chhena, sugar, banana, black pepper, jaiphal, karpura etc. This drink is offered to the lords in tall earthen pots (containing almost 100 litres of pana) that reach up to the lips of the lords ( ‘adhara’ meaning lips and ‘pana’ meaning sherbet.) After the lords partake of this pana, the pots are broken as an offering to the ‘dahanis’ to ward off the evil eye that the lords might have attracted during the course of the jatra. The ‘adhara pana’ is never given to the devotees.
ADHARA PANA
