Pitha is not just one dish but a whole family of rice-flour preparations across Assam, Bengal and Odisha, especially during harvest festivals. Some are steamed, some fried, some sweet and some savoury. Assamese versions often use rice flour with jaggery, coconut or sesame, while festival descriptions from eastern India repeatedly point to rice flour as the base. That flexibility is exactly why pitha matters: it is less a single recipe than a living tradition shaped by season, celebration and household habit.
