Pongal is one of the major festivals of South India. This festival is celebrated for a period of four days beginning with the day before Makara Sankranti. This year - 2022, the Pongal festival starts on Thursday, 13 January and ends on Sunday 16th January. Makara Sankranti is always on the 14th January since it is the only Hindu festival that follows the solar calendar so it always falls on the same day. It is the day on which the sun begins its northern journey and comes into the 10th house of the Vedic zodiac which is “makara” or Capricorn. It is the beginning of the six month period of the Hindu calendar known as Uttarayanam or the northward path of the sun. The Pongal festival is a four-day affair. Each day is marked by different festivities. The first day is known as Bhogi Pongol. The second day is called Thai Pongal; the Third day is known as Mattu Pongal; the Fourth day is called Kaanum Pongal.

On the 1st day called Bhogi, people collect all the old and useless things in the house and burn them. The esoteric meaning is that we should burn our negative memories and other useless bits of baggage that the mind carries before the start of a new year. The 2nd day is called Thai Pongol since it comes on the 1st day of the Tamil month of Thai. This is the day when we make “payasam” or “kheer” to be offered to the sun. The 3rd day is called Mattu Pongol. “Madu” means “cattle” in Tamil. This is a very sweet custom when the farmers bring out their cattle and decorate them and feed them with tasty tit-bits in order to show their appreciation for the help they have rendered during the year. The famous game called “jellikettu” takes place on this day which is actually a bull race. The fourth and the final day is celebrated as Kaanum Pongal. On this day, the leftovers (food) are placed on a washed turmeric leaf along with sugarcane and betel leaves and put out for the birds and insects to eat. The women then perform a ritual praying for the prosperity of their brothers. On this  day people go and visit relatives and friends or just go for outings in nature.

The life of a farmer in Bharat is indeed hard. He has to take bank loans for getting fodder and seeds etc and despite all his hard work, the monsoons may fail or prices fall and he will be unable to repay the loan. We seldom think of these things when we eat the rice or the chapattis on our plate.

The history of this festival can be traced back to the times of the Sangam Age i.e. from 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. Many of the Puranas also mention Pongal. Initially, this festival was celebrated as a Dravidian Harvest festival during the reign of the Dravidian kings of Indian history. At that time it was known as Thai Niradal. It was the custom in those days for  unmarried girls to fast and pray to the goddess Kartyayani for the agricultural prosperity of the country.

Then came the Pallava dynasty who used to celebrate the festival as “Pavai Nonbu”. It was celebrated during the Tamil month of Margazhi. Young girls carried on the tradition by offering prayers to the goddess for sending rain and having a good crop. Throughout the month of this festivity, they did not consume milk or any milk products. Neither did they put oil in their hair during this period. In other words they followed a strict regime of avoiding all luxuries and concentrating on praying for the prosperity of their land.

The festival as well as the penances which the girls undertook has been vividly described in Andal's Tiruppavai and Manickavachakar's Tiruvembavai. Andal was a famous woman saint of Tamil Nadu and Manickavachakar was one of the four ardent devotees of Lord Shiva. The Chola King, Kiluttunga used to present lands to the Veeraraghava temple at Tiruvallur, to ensure that the festival was celebrated on a grand scale. So we can see the antiquity of this festival.

It is basically a harvest festival in Tamil Nadu and newly harvested grains like rice, sugarcane, turmeric, are cooked for the first time on this day.

On this auspicious day the sun is worshipped as the embodiment of the divine. The sun  is considered as the “pratyaksha devata” or the god that is visible to our eyes.

The term 'Pongal' is derived from the Tamil language and means 'to boil over'. On the 2nd day known as Thai Pongol (Makara Sankranti in the north) a concoction of milk, sugar and rice known as “payasam” is cooked in a mud pot (preferably) outside the house, facing east. The “payasam” or “kheer” is supposed to boil over just as the sun rises. This is an offering to the sun . This is later distributed to everyone. The poor are fed and given clothes on this occasion. The next day is known as “Mattu Pongal.” On this day the cow is worshipped. Other animals and birds are also fed. It is a form of thanksgiving to the entire creation and the power that sustains all life. On the third day there is big gathering of all the family, relations and friends. So the whole festival is about restoring our relationships with everything and everyone – with Nature, with the universe and with each other.

It is an interesting fact that all Hindu festivals have some association with the planets, in this case with the sun. Bharat is an ancient country and we have always upkept our traditions. This is what has kept our country and our culture together. Our culture is being buffeted by so many western influences at this point of time in our history that our children have very little idea about all these festivals. The Sanatana Dharma is the oldest and most precious culture ever seen in the world and this generation has a very serious duty to keep it alive. So it is very important that all Hindu households keep following these traditions so that we can hand over this precious gift to the next generation.

Loka Samasthat Sukhino Bhavantu!

Let the Whole World be Happy!