Friday, January 7, 2011

Pongal

Pongal (பொங்கல்)-the harvest festival-
When daytime for the gods begin, after a six-month long night, is the begining of the Pongal festivities and is spread over three days; it is the most important and most fervently celebrated harvest festival of south India. In fact this harvest festival is celebrated in mid January in most parts of India, albeit by different names - Shankranthi, Baisakhi, Pongal etc. In Tamil Nadu this festival is called Pongal, Bhogali Bihu in Assam, Baisakhi/ Lohri in Punjab, Bhogi in Andhra Pradesh and Makar Sankranti in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal. As the dates for this festival are calculated by the solar calander (ie western calendar), it is probably the only Hindu festival that falls on the same date year after year. pongal is celebrated from the 13th to the 15th of January. This marks the beginning of Uttarayana – the sun’s movement northwards for a period of six months. Makara Sankranthi refers to the event of the Sun entering the zodiac sign of Makara or Capricorn.
Pongal is the thanksgiving or harvest festival of south India.This festival marks the harvest of crops with special thanks giving to god, the sun, earth and the cattle. Majority of Indians live in the villages and this thanksgiving is related to every aspect of their daily life , a major part of which are activities for their livelihood that depends solely on agriculture. The spirit is alive and Pongal is a time to discard the old and welcome the new.Along with its rural touch this festival is also directly connected to the cycle of seasons. Besides the reaping of the harvest it signifies the withdrawal of the southeast monsoons in southern India. Like the cycle of seasons, pongal indicates the ringing out the old and ushering in the new and this festival therefore is associated with cleaning up and burning down the unnecessary/unwanted stuff and replacing them with the new. Even though Pongal was originally a festival for the farming community, today all celebrates it.
History of Pongal
It is not known when exactly this festival began but it can be traced back to the Sangam age ie 200BC to 300AD, as historians have identified pongal with Thai Un and Thai Niradal which were celebrated during the Sangam era. As part of the festivities, maidens of the Sangam era observed penance during the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January). A major festival during the reign of the Pallavas (4th-8th century AD) was “pavai nonbu” observed by maidens during Thai Niradal, in the Tamil month of Margazhi. Young girls (kanyas) prayed for rain and prosperity and avoided milk and milk products the entire month. They would bathe early in the morning, not put oil on their head, and did not use harsh words in their speech. They worshipped goddess Katyayani whose idol was they made with wet sand. This penance would end on the first day of the Tamil month of Thai (mid January - mid February). This tradition is supposed to have given birth to the festival of Pongal.
Andal’s Thiruppavai and Manickavachakar's Tiruvembavai also describe the festival of Thai Niradal and the observance of pavai nonbu. Andal performed pavai nonbu to merge with Sri Ranganatha (Lord Vishnu). Nowadays, women and girls undertaking pavai nombu during Margazhi month take bath at dawn and visit temples and read a verse from Thiruppavai composed by Andal. There is also an inscription at the Veeraraghava Swamy temple at Tiruvallur about the Chola king Kiluttunga who had gifted land to this temple especially for the Pongal celebrations.
The first day of the Ponal festival, Bhogi Pongal, is a day for the family. Surya or Thai or Perum Pongal, the second day, is dedicated to the worship of Surya, the Sun god. The third day of Pongal, Mattu Pongal, is for worship of the cattle(mattu).
Bhogi
The last day of the Tamil month of Margazhi is when the Pongal festivities begin. The first day of the festival ie 13th January, is called Bhogi and is dedicated to lord Indira. In Hindu mythology, Indira is the king of the gods or devas and lord of heaven or svargaloka. He is also the god of war, storms, and rainfall. As he is the god of thunder and rain he is responsible for bountiful crop, and so the dedication to him. Scholars have often compared Bhogi (another name for Indira) to the Indra Vizha celebrated by the Chola kings at Kaveripattinam, also known as Poompuhar. On this day spring cleaning of the house takes place. As in reality this is more a harvest festival one can experience the true spirit of this festival only in small towns and more so in villages of south India where people still live in mud huts with thatched roofs. Most part of the huts are redone.
They redbuild the mud portions too. Water is used to soften the mud, and then dug out and then rebuilt. After rebuilding, it, a mixture of cow dung and water is spread evenly over the new mud walls, fresh cowdung has sanitizing properties. This paste is also spread on the floor of the hut, on which people sleep at night.The thatched roof is also replaced. On the Bhogi Pongal day people, decorate their homes with kolam (a decoration laid on the floor; a powder of plain white and coloured rice flour is used to draw the kolam).People buy new vessels /utensils and household stuff and replace them with what they discard after being used for a year. People used (and some still do) clay pots and pans which they replace every year. A major activity on the day is the burning of things that are of no use.People collect all the unwanted stuff and discard them. Whatever can be burnt will be put in the bonfire that people light in the evenings. In the villages very household has its own bonfire in front of their hut/home. As can be inferred the most important activity on Bhogi Pongal is to clean and this is carried out in towns and cities too- the house, office, surroundings, courtyard and other places get cleaned. All the broken and unwanted things are removed. The probable reason for this huge cleaning exercise is to bring new energy into life. A sort of cleansing ceremony. In big cities this has become more symbolic and huge bonfires are lit in open spaces where the entire community partake in singing and dancing around the fire. But nowadays there are a lot of restrictions from environment protection groups on this Bhogi bonfire as it causes pollution due to the burning of plastic and rubber. The Bhogi festival according to some is also a commemoration of the lifting of mount Govardhan by lord Krishna when he was still very young. According to the Vishnu-Purana the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honour of lord Indra and worshiped him at the end of every monsoon. Even as a child, lord Krishna decided to teach a lesson to lord Indra who became arrogant after becoming the king of all deities. One particular year the young Krishna asked all the cowherds to stop worshiping Indira.This angered lord Indra and in a fit of anger sent a deluge to submerge Gokul. People were scared and realised that the downpour was due to their neglect of Indra. But Krishna assured them that no harm would take place. He lifted mount Govardhan with his little finger and sheltered men and beasts from the rain. This gave him the epithet Govardhandhari. Later, lord Indra realized his mistake and divine power of Krishna and accepted the supremacy of Krishna. There is no special puja or prayer performed on this day apart from the routine daily poojas and prayers. Farmers however do have some rituals like consecrating their tools and doing harvest of paddy and sugarcane.
Thai Pongal
The main festival of Pongal is celebrated on the day after Bhogi, and this falls on the first day of the Tamil month of “Thai” (14th January). It is also referred to as Surya Pongal because people worship Surya, the sun god and his consorts, Chaya and Samgnya. The reason behind worshipping Surya is because on the first day of Thai the sun enters the Makara rasi (Capricorn), signalling the end of winter and onset of spring in the northern hemisphere, with longer and warmer days for the next six moths. This phase is identified as Uttarayan Punyakalam and is regarded very auspicious as it is the period that the Devas are awake- after a six month long sleep they wake up on the first day of Thai . On this day one prays that the granaries are full, the sun shines brightly, trees are in full bloom, that everyday bird-songs resound in the air and hearts overflow with happiness.
Legends:There are several legends that are attached to this festival. One is about a sage named Hema (who was actually Brighu maharishi in a earlier birth). Sage Hema did penance to lord Vishnu on the banks of the Pottramarai tank in Kumbakonam. On Perum (main)/ big) Pongal day, the lord is believed to have taken the form of Sarangapani and blessed the sage. How this came about is interesting. A number of saints had assembled on the banks of the river Saraswathi to perform a sacrifice. They wanted to know the greatest of the three lords-Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. It was decided that sage Bhrigu should meet the three lords individually and pronounce a judgment. He met them and declared that Vishnu was the supreme lord. This he said was because when he kicked lord Vishnu he did not lose his temper but showed the greatest of respect and even washed the feet of Brighu maharishi. Brighu repented, and wished to serve lord Vishnu in two births. During his first rebirth he was known as Guha and lived during the period of Ramayana. In his next birth he was known as sage Hema. As Hema, Brighu maharishi did the afore mentioned penance, got the darshan of lord Vishnu who granted him three boons. The first one was that goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu should be born as his daughter; the second, Vishnu should become his son-in-law; and the third he should get sayujaya moksham ie liberation. Vishnu granted these boons. He directed him towards Lakshmi who was on a thousand petal lotus, where she had been waiting to get reunited with Vishnu. She had left in a huff when Brighu gave her spouse, the lord of the universe, a kick in her presence which she felt was insulting . Further without reprimanding him, lord Vishnu honoured Brighu. It is believed that to fulfill the boons of him being the son in law of the sage, lord Vishnu appeared as Sarangapani and got married to sage Hema’s daughter. This place hence is also known as Kalyanapuram.
There is yet another legend that is about lord Shiva performing a miracle where a stone image of an elephant ate a piece of sugarcane. This is also the reason why sugarcane is associated with pongal. Abidhega Pandian, the Pandian king was a great devotee of Shiva and one day lord Shiva decided to grace him. Shiva came as a miracle performer appearing simultaneously in a number of places in the Pandiya kingdom. He changed older people to look younger, he turned iron into gold and cured many of chronic illness. He came to be known as a miracle performer. The king wished to see him and sent his guard to fetch him to the palace. The miracle performer refused and said that whoever wished to see him had to visit him, and not the other way around. One day the king decided to pay a visit to this strange performer of miracles. He went to a temple where the miracle performer was staying. All his subjects stood up and bowed in respect on seeing the king, but the miracle performer did not stand up. The king felt that he was rude. He asked him for an explanation and the miracle performer told the king that he had travelled a lot and found his niche among the poor and that every poor person was related to him. His travels had made him the master of all arts and that there was nothing for him to learn from the king. Naturally the king was taken aback by his reply, and thought that he was arrogant and so wanted to teach him a lesson. The king saw a farmer with some sugarcane standing next to him. He then challenged the miracle performer that if the performer was that powerful as he claimed, he should then be able to feed the stone elephants with the sugar cane. The miracle performer took the sugar cane and looked at the stone elephants on the temple walls gracefully. To everybody’s astonishment the elephant trumpeted loudly and stretched out its trunk and took the sugarcane from the miracle performer’s hand. After eating the sugarcane the elephant turned back to stone. The king immediately fell at the feet of the miracle performer and declared that a person who had such powers could not be an ordinary man but the lord himself. The lord then blessed the king and disappeared.
The Celebration: Every year Thai pongal is celebrated on the 14th of January. There is much excitement and preparation. New clothes are made or bought. The homes including the back and front yards are cleaned days ahead. Tasty palakarams (sweet snacks) get prepared. The main dish of course is the offering to the sun god- "pongal" (rice pudding)of rice and milk.The women in the household partake in the drawing of the kolam and decorate the central courtyard of their homes with beautiful kolams, done with rice flour and bordered with red clay. Apart from the kolam at the entrance of the home and the central courtyard, a kolam is drawn at the sacred area where the pongal is prepared. Firewood is traditionally used to cook the rice. The pongal-paanai (pot, vessel) is set up in the direct view of the sun (east) at the auspicious time. Conventionally, the pongal is made in the front or side of the house, but in modern days as people live in flats and as cooking indoors with firewood is hazardous, the pongal is prepared in the kitchen and on the gas or electric stove and in a brass/bronze vessel instead of the clay pongal-paanai. The moment of climax is the spill over of the milk during cooking. The spillover of milk is a propitious symbol of abundance. Sometimes, firecrackers are lit to signify the moment, but usually a loud sound is made by thumping of the utensils with ladles and loudly shouting “pongal-o-pongal.”Once the pongal is ready an offering is first made to the Sun god with a prayer. Then sharing of the pongal with friends and relatives follows.
Pongal is the festival of the Tamils and this is a huge population group, with over 70 million people of Tamil origin in the world today. As the Tamil population is also widely spread throughout the world- besides southern India one can now find large populations of Tamils spread across the breadth of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, and more recently many immigrants reside in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and North America. Pongal is therefore celebrated by these communities across the globe. However most south Indians who have settled abroad or in the north of the country usually celebrate only the second day or the Perum/Thai Pongal. Coinciding with Makara Sankranti and Lohri of the north, it is also called Pongal Sankranti.
Mattu Pongal (மாட்டுப் பொங்கல்)
The third day, Mattu Pongal, literally Pongal for cattel-in honour of the cattle. For people living in the city this festival may not have any meaning at all. But for the farming community it is very important and is meant to offer thanks to the cows and buffaloes, as the former provides them with milk and the latter is used to plough the lands. So on this day, the festival for the cattle, the farmers honour their animal friends by celebrating it as a day of thankgiving to them.On Mattu Pongal day lord Ganesh and goddess Parvati are worshipped and Pongal is offered to them in the "puja".
The Legend behind Mattu Pongal:The legend says that lord Shiva asked his bull, Basava, to go to the earth and ask the mortals to have an oil massage and bath every day and to eat food only once a month. By mistake Basava announced that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. This unintentional folly enraged Shiva who then cursed Basava, banishing him to live on the earth forever. He would have to plough the fields and help people produce more food. Thus this day is associated with cattle.
Mattu Pongal celebration: The cows and bulls are scrubbed clean and their horns painted in myriad colours and the cattle adorned with colourful flowers around their necks and a paste of turmeric applied on their foreheads with a round spot of kumkum in the centre. The pointed horns of the bulls are covered with special ornamental brass covers with a colourful tassles at the end. Their necks are smeared with turmeric and sandal pastes and then decorated with multi-colored beads, tinkling bells, sheaf's of corn and flower garlands.The cattle are usually gathered at the riverside and a community 'pongal' is cooked at the banks of the river (in some cases it is done at their own backyard). Everyone joins in the community meal, for which the food is made of the freshly harvested grain. The cattle is fed this Pongal along with fresh green grass. Usually the men do this ritual. The bulls are then taken to the village centers. Boys and small girls also accompany them to watch the ceremony.The ringing of their bells, as the young men race each other's cattle ,draws the attention of the villagers. The entire atmosphere becomes festive with fun and revelry all around. In the first half of the Mattu Pongal day, bulls are pampered and fed but strangely in the latter part of the day they are used as objects of fun for the village youth and literally "torchered" in the guise of a popular sport. An important village sport, called the jallikattu or manji virattu ,is an integral part of the Pongal festival and is generally held in the evening of the Mattu Pongal day. It is observed with great enthusiasm. There is normally a big hullabaloo when the game “jallikattu"(taming the bull) and "manji virattu"( chasing the bull) starts in which groups of young men chase the running bulls. In manji virattu, bundles of money and bags of coins are tied to the sharpened horns of ferocious bulls that are let loose in an open ground. The young men of the village vie with each other to subdue the bull and grab the bags tied to the horns.The tradition of jallikattu dates back to the Sangam age. There is a mentioning of jallikattu in the Sangam classic Purananooru, which talks about how men had to subdue the bull in order to win the hand of a fair maiden. There is also a story of how even lord Krishna is believed to have defeated seven bulls before marrying Nappinnai. This festival is very popular especially in Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tanjavur. Unlike in the Spanish bullfights, in manji-virattu, the bull is never killed. But many young men and spectators get bruised and have broken their bones after the event. Deaths are also occasionally reported during jallikattu.Over the years this sport has become much more bloodier than the traditional jallikattu observed 500 years ago. The animal right activists have been fighting against jallikattu and the Supreme Court of India in January 2008 has banned jallikattu, but the age-old tradition still continues in many rural parts of Tamil Nadu. It is now held as a regular bull fight sports in demarcated rings in villages where the bull owners and the young men fighting the bulls vie for the prizes.
Kanu Pandigai: Mattu Pongal for many communities of Tamil Nadu is also a very special day, especially for the ladies and young girls who pray for the welfare of their brothers.It is also known as Kanu.This festival is reminiscent of Raksha Bandhan and Bhai Duja of north India. Early in the morning, the eldest lady in the house applies raw tumeric paste on the face of all the young girls in the house. After this oil is applied to their hair. Then all the girls and ladies offer rice balls (small lemon sized balls) topped with pieces of turmeric, coconut and jaggery to the crows. In an open place a kolam is drawn directed towards the east and turmeric leaves are placed over the kolam. . It is usually next to the Tulsi altar in the courtyard or in the open terrace. On this leaf are placed the leftovers of sweet pongal and the salty pongal called ven pongal (made on the Perum Pongal day), ordinary white rice as well as rice colored red(with kumkum) and yellow (with tumeric), betel leaves, betel nuts, pieces of sugarcane, and a couple of small bananas. On this also reposes an oil lamp (dia/vallaku). In Tamil Nadu women perform this ritual before bathing in the morning. The following phrase is repeated while placing the coloured rice on the leaves “Kakka podi vechen, Kanu podi vechen, kakkaikkum kurivikkum kalyanam,” which could be roughly translated as, “I offer, Kakka podi and Kanu podi, it is the marriage of the crow and the sparrow.” This literal translation sounds a little absurd, so it is quite possible that these words imply the welfare of the crow and sparrow, as "kalyanam" also means "welfare". After chanting this a coconut is broken. This ritual of kakkai chatham (rice for the crow) is not necessarily only a Pongal tradition. Many south Indians take the first bit of rice cooked in any given day and set it outside for the crows to take. Feeding the crows is akin to feeding departed souls, as crows represent ancestors. Feeding the crows once a year is believed to be sufficient as a year in our human world is akin to one day in the life of a departed person.
Arati is later performed for brothers with turmeric water, limestone and rice, and this water is sprinkled on the rangoli/kolam in front of the house. Sisters apply a tilak/kumkum on the foreheads of their brothers, and give them fruit, sweets, sesame seed and jaggery. The brothers thank their sisters for their good wishes and give them money and gifts.
Notes
1.In Hindu tradition, one human year is believed to be one day for gods. For gods, it is day during Uttarayana and it is night during Dakshinayana. Uttarayana starts on Makara Sankramana day usually January 14th or 15th. As it is daytime for the gods most auspicious ceremonies and rituals are performed only in this period and is also referred to as Devayana. Uttarayana is really the northern movement of the sun, the period starting from Capricorn zodiac (Makara raasi) up to Gemini zodiac (Mithuna raasi) is called as Uttarayana. When Sun leaves the Gemini zodiac it is known as Kataka Sankramana and this marks the end of the Uttarayana period and the start of the Dakshinayana or the southern movement. This happens annually on July 15th or 16th.
2.Goddess Katyayani is one form of goddess Durga and in many regions of India she is worshipped on the sixth day of Navratri, being one of the nine Durgas or Navadurgas. She was the daughter of sage Katya. Goddess Katyayani was popular during the period of lord Krishna, and in Gokula she was worshipped by gopis and gopas. A clay image of the goddess used to be made with mud from the Yamuna river and was worshipped for a month, at the end of which the idol was immersed in Yamuna. This was known as Katyayani vrata. A similar vrata is also a part of Tamil culture known as Margazhi nombu.
3. Pongal Recipe
1. Pongal paanai (clay-pot) is decorated around its neck with mango leaves, fresh tumeric, small pieces of sugarcane etc, held together by a yellow string.
2. Boil water & milk (without the rice) in the paanai.
3. When the milk spills over say "Pongal, Oh Pongal" and add rice to the paanai.
4. Once the rice is cooked, add chakkarai, jaggery(or sugar), honey, raisins & cashews.
5. Few pods of Cardamom enhance the flavor of pongal.
6. Once the mixture is ready for serving it is set up for offering to the Sun god on a banana leaf ..