A brief history of the sharbhaja and sharpuriya from Bengal’s heartland

This is a tale of two famed sweetmeats and their makers and their love for their profession from a bygone era. The tale of Sharpuriya and subsequently Sharbhaja traces its origin to one of the former villages in West Bengal called Reui, where the municipality of Krishnnagar stands today. While this theory is the most conclusive one, there is another version that says at least Sharpuriya existed, the same recipe, way before being “invented” in Krishnanagar. Today, you can easily find how to make this sweet, under best sweet recipes indian searches.

Chaitanya Mahapabhu’s Sweet

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a 15th-century saint, from Nabadwip, who thought of himself as a reincarnation of Lord Krishna and was also behind the Vaishnavinism wave in Bengal. He was the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which propagated the same. Spirituality aside, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was fond of three sweets and Sharpuriya was said to be one of them. There is no documented proof that the version that originated in Krishnanagar was a spinoff of the one the saint loved, but this is one version of the Sharpuriya that is also spoken about a lot.

The other version was born in the late 1800s, at the hands of Surukumar Das, a sweetmaker living in the region ruled by Raja Krishna Chandra Ray (1728 – 1782). He was a zamindar from the Nadia Raj Family, and he built his residence beside a large pond, his red palace (rajbari) still stands there like a relic of the past. Krishnanagar was his capital, and under his patronage of local art and culture, many traders settled and from them were born sculptors and sweets. Moyras were one particular sect of traders who were the sweetmakers, making sweets from milk, that was transformed into chenna and flavored with sugar and other agents.

Surukumar Das was one of the later Moyras, whose experimental nature led to the discovery of the sweet. He was experimenting with the milk skin or “shar” that forms like a film over boiling milk. Das was extremely paranoid and used to do all of this at night behind closed doors to guard his recipe. Sharbhaja was simultaneously born during his experiment with the milk skin over the milk. He used to store these safely away until the morning when he would transport the sweets around town, selling them to folks around like a hawker, by carrying the container with the sweets on his head. It’s a far cry frpm today where you can find its recipe if you quickly look up easy milk sweet recipes under Indian sweets.

Fast forward to his older years, his son Adhar Chandra learned the secrets of the trade and mastered these two sweets deftly. Like his father, he also used to go around and sell sweets to customers in and around town. As the reputation of the sweets was slowly building and their popularity was skyrocketing, Adhar Chandra established a shop in 1902. He set it up at the then Nediarpara, Krishnanagar which today goes by the name of Ananthari Mitra Road.

How Do Sharbhaja and Sharpuriya taste?

Channa or chenna is a speciality of the sweets in Bengal and both Sharpuriya and Sharbhaja embody this milk product beautifully. Sharpuriya has that smooth, creamy texture that's not overly rich or sickly sweet and won't overwhelm your tastebuds. That moderate sweetness and soft, melt-in-your-mouth feel makes it a crowd-pleaser for all ages. And you get little chewy bits of that prized shar in every bite, adding a nice contrast that is a pleasure to bite into.

As for the Sharbhaja, it's a unique sweet you won't find anywhere else. Instead of being fried, it's this soft sweet of chenna, sandwiched and held together by thick layers of smoky “shar”. The smokiness of the “shar” gives it a distinct flavor and impeccable taste that is unmatched.

The legacy continues

After Adhar Chandra Das, his equally talented elder son Jagabandhu Das (1921-1985) carried forward his grandfather and father's legacy. He is credited with introducing various new sweets like Khirpuli, Nikhuti, Srimoti (Rakam Barfi), Rasa Kadamba, Roll Cream, and Sandwich. Currently, Goutam Das, the son of Jagabandhu Das, is the proprietor of this century-old establishment, while also practising as an advocate by profession. The fare offered by the shop evolved with the tides of time, but it remains steadfast in its recipe of Sharbhaja and Sarpuriya. If you find yourself in Kolkata, they are present at Misti Hub in Rajarhat.