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| A man prepares tilkut in Gaya. Picture by Suman |
Gaya, Aug. 31: Pilgrims, who are planning to visit Bodhgaya for the Pitripaksh Mela, are in for a special treat — locally prepared sweets tilkut, anarasa and laai.
The sweets are usually prepared in November, December and January for winter. It is consumed mostly during Makar Sankranti, celebrated on January 14.
However, tilkut-makers start to make the delicious sweet from September to satiate the demands of pilgrims who start to visit the town for pinddaan. For more than 150 years, Gaya has been famous for producing crispy tilkuts that is exported to different parts of India.
“Tilkut is prepared from gingili or til, mixed with sugar or jaggery. It is known as tilkutam in Chennai, gajak in Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Calcutta, and tilpatti in Rajasthan,” Krishna Prasad Gupta, the owner of a tilkut shop at Andar Gaya near Suryakund pond, told The Telegraph.
He added that his grandfather Chhotu Sao had opened the shop in 1914. Later, Krishna’s father Basudev Prasad owned the shop. He said: “I remember when tilkut used to be sold at Rs 5 per kg. But last year we sold it at Rs 120.”
Social worker Suresh Narayan said: “Eating tilkut in winter is good for health, as til provides internal warmth. A tilkut a day keeps cold and cough away.”
Sources said over 5,000 people are engaged to make tilkuts in the district. They earn between Rs 200 and Rs 300 per day. In winter, the sweet is supplied to Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi from famous shops on Ramna Road and Tekari Road in Gaya and Dangara in Mohanpur.
Laljee Prasad, the president of Gaya District Tilkut Vyawasayi Sangh president and the acting president of Bihar Rajya Mishthanna Bhojan Vikreta Sangh, said sugar and kerosene were given to producers at a subsided rate. However, the practise has now stopped. Prasad, also a JD(U) leader, said tilkut-makers should be given the status of a domestic industry. Then, they could reap the benefits given to such industries. They should be provided loans at a low interest rate.
