पोंगल

The tradition & historical record

Pongal is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils. The festival is celebrated over three or four consecutive days, which are named Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal, beginning on the last day of the Tamil calendar month of Margazhi. Thai Pongal is observed on the first day of the Tamil calendar month of Thai and usually falls on 14 or 15 January in the Gregorian calendar. According to tradition, the festival marks the end of winter solstice, and the start of the Sun's six-month-long journey northwards called Uttarayana when the Sun enters Capricorn. It is dedicated to the solar deity Surya and corresponds to Makar Sankranti, the Hindu observance celebrated under various regional names across the Indian subcontinent. The festival is named after the ceremonial "Pongal", which means "boiling over" or "overflow" in Tamil language and refers to the traditional dish prepared by boiling rice with milk and jaggery. Mattu Pongal is meant for celebration of cattle, and the cattle are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colors with garlands of flowers placed around their necks and processions on the day. ¹

Thai Pongal is a combination of two Tamil language words: Thai (Tamil: 'தை') referring to the tenth month of the Tamil calendar and Pongal (from pongu) meaning "boiling over" or "overflow." Pongal also refers to a sweet dish of rice boiled with milk and jaggery that is ritually prepared and consumed on the day. It is also referred to as Tamizhar thirunal ("the festival of Tamil people"). ¹

The principal theme of Pongal is thanking the Sun god Surya, the forces of nature, and the farm animals and people who support agriculture. The festival is mentioned in an inscription found at the Veeraraghava Swamy Temple. Attributed to the Chola king Kulottunga I (1070–1122 CE), the inscription describes a grant of land to the temple for celebrating the annual Pongal festivities. The ninth century Shaiva Bhakti text Tiruvempavai by Manikkavacakar details the festival. It appears in Tamil texts and inscriptions with variant spellings such as ponakam, tiruponakam, and ponkal. Temple inscriptions from the Chola and Vijayanagara periods detail recipes similar to pongal recipes of the modern era with variations in seasonings and relative amounts of the ingredients. The terms ponakam, ponkal and its prefixed variants might also indicate the festive pongal dish as a prasadam (religious offering) which were given as a part of the meals served by free community kitchens in South Indian Hindu temples either as festival food or to pilgrims every day. ¹

Pongal is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils. The three days of the Pongal festival are called Bhogi, Thai Pongal, and Mattu Pongal. Some Tamils celebrate a fourth day of Pongal known as Kanum Pongal. While the festival is observed for three or four days in Tamil Nadu, but for one or two days in urban locations and by the Tamil diaspora outside South Asia. ¹

Bhogi marks the first day of the Pongal festivities and is celebrated on the last day of the Tamil calendar month Marghazhi. On this day people discard old belongings and celebrate new possessions. The people assemble and light a bonfire in order to burn the heaps of discards. Houses are cleaned, painted and decorated to give a festive look. Prayers are offered to Indra, the king of Gods with thanks and hopes for plentiful rains in the year ahead. Kaappu kattu is a tradition of tying leaves of Azadirachta indica, Senna auriculata and Aerva lanata in the roofs of houses and residential areas that is widely practiced in the Kongu Nadu region. Bhogi is observed on the same day in the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Fruits of the harvest are collected along with flowers of the season and a mixture of treats along with money is given to children, who then separate and collect the money and sweet fruits. ¹

Thai Pongal is the main festive day, celebrated on the next day of Bhogi. It is observed on the first day of the Tamil calendar month of Thai, and usually falls on 14 or 15 January as per the Gregorian calendar. It is dedicated to the Sun deity Surya and corresponds to Makar Sankranti, the harvest festival under various regional names celebrated throughout India. According to tradition, the festival marks the end of winter solstice, and the start of the sun's six-month-long journey northwards when the sun enters the Capricorn, also called as Uttarayana. Dedicated to Surya, it is celebrated with family and friends with new clothes worn and the preparation of the traditional pongal dish in an earthen pot. The pot is typically decorated by tying a turmeric plant or flower garland and placed in the sun along with sugarcane stalks. The homes are decorated with banana and mango leaves, decorative florals and kolams. Relatives and friends are invited and when the pongal starts to boil and overflow out of the vessel, participants blow a conch or make sounds while shouting "Pongalo Pongal" ("may this rice boil over"). In rural areas, people sing traditional songs while the pongal dish is cooking. The Pongal dish is first offered to Surya and Ganesha, and then shared with the gathered friends and family. People traditionally offer prayers to the sun in the open and then proceed to eat their meal. A community Pongal is an event where families gather at a public place for a ceremonial worship. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pongal (festival)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Pongal is multi-day annual harvest Tamils festival in South India and Sri Lanka various region, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 5 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²