The Village of New Vrindaban's Blog
This week’s challenge: Who is this Brijabasi, what is she doing & what year were these photos taken?
What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the Brijabasi Spirit website.
Join the fray by commenting, tracking what others have to say, or linking to it from your blog.
Here’s the info we have:
Who: Viduttama devi dasi
What: Daily churning of cream into butter, using only dairy from New Vrindaban protected cows.
These photos, taken by Vishaka-devi dasi, were first published in the Back to Godhead magazine, January 1976.
Here’s the caption from the BTG article:
“Every day at four P.M., the cream from the day’s two milkings is churned into butter by Viduttama dasi. Inside the can, the rod she holds is attached to a round wooden disc with a sawtoothed edge. When the rod is moved up and down, the disc churns the cream into a rich, light-colored butter.”
Viduttama recalls:
“It was 1975, before I had Sudar [her eldest child]. Taru taught me the entire process. I must say when I heated up the water to clean the milk can I always had 2 extra gallons for my shower! Was that cheating?!?
One of the strangest things [for me] was that as a child my parents had our own cow (hence 7 kids) and my brother milked her daily. We pasteurized the milk, and my mother would churn the butter but best of all was the whipped cream. I do believe that’s why pineapple upside down cake has always been my favorite!”
When: Summer, 1975.
Where: Bahulaban barn, New Vrindaban, West Virginia.
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She is making butter.