History And Significance Of Pongal

Pongal is said to be one of the major festivals of South India and is more about the act of giving rather than just a ritual. Pongal is celebrated on the day when the sun begins to move northwards. This festival is also called ‘Makar Sankranti’ in other places and is celebrated for four days.

Pongal festival is dedicated to the Sun god. It corresponds to Makar Sankranti, also a harvest festival celebrated in various parts of the country. The festival observes the end of the winter solstice and the start of the sun’s journey towards the north. 

The four days of the festival are celebrated as Bhogi Pongal, Surya Pongal, Mattu Pongal, and Kaanum Pongal respectively.

Significance of Pongal: 

Pongal is a festival that is mostly celebrated at the beginning of the Tai month according to the Tamil solar calendar, which generally falls on January 14. Pongal refers to the dish that is traditionally prepared on this day. The famous dish involves a mixture of a new harvest of rice, milk, and jaggery. The dish is first offered to the favorite Gods and Goddesses, then the cows, and then it is served to the family members as prasad.

During the festival celebrations, cows and their horns are decorated beautifully. The festivities also include decorating houses with kolam artworks which are made with rice powder along with banana leaves. People offer prayers in the temple and families come together to exchange gifts and sweets, have meals and have a gala time together.

The first mention of the Pongal festival can be found in one of the memoranda in the Viraraghava temple dedicated to Lord Maha Vishnu. This inscription talks about king Kulottunga I from the Chola period and refers to a piece of land that was granted to the temple for celebrating Pongal every year grandly. That is why even the first word of the Pongal dish is dated back to the same era of the Chola period.

A four Day festival-

The First Day:

This first day is celebrated as the Bhogi Pongal festival in honor of Lord Indra, the ruler of clouds that give rains. Tribute is paid to Lord Indra for the plenty of harvests, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land of farmers. 

Another famous ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu, when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes in the belief of throwing the bad outside their homes. Girls and other women dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring, and the harvest. 

The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.

The Second Day:

On the second day of Pongal, the puja or act of ceremonial worship is performed when rice is boiled in milk outdoors in an earthenware pot and is then symbolically offered to the God Surya along with other oblations. 

All people wear traditional attire and markings, and there is a fascinating ritual where husband and wife dispose of elegant ritual utensils specially used for the puja. In the village, the Pongal ceremony is carried out more simply but with the same devotion. 

Following the appointed ritual, a turmeric plant is tied around the pot in which the rice will be boiled. The offerings include the two sticks of sugar cane in the background and coconut and bananas in the dish. 

A common feature of the puja that is noticed, in addition to the offerings of prayers to God, is the kolam, the reassuring design which is traditionally traced in white lime powder before the house in the early morning after bathing.

The Third Day:

The third day of the festival is known as Mattu Pongal, the day of Pongal for cows. Multi-colored beads, tinkling bells, sheaves of corn, and flower garlands are tied around the neck of the cattle and they are worshipped and fed with Pongal and taken to the village centers. 

The resounding of their bells attracts the villagers as the young men race each other’s cattle. The entire atmosphere becomes festive and full of fun and revelry. Arati is performed on them, to ward off the evil eye. 

According to a tale, once 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 once a month. 

Inadvertently, the bull Basava announced that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. 

This mistake enraged Shiva who then cursed Basava, banishing him to live on the earth forever. Basava would have to plow the fields and help people produce more food. Thus the association of this day with cattle.

The Fourth Day:

The Fourth day of the festival is known as Knau or Kannum Pongal day. On this day of festivity, a turmeric leaf is washed and is then placed on the ground. 

On this leaf are placed, the leftovers of sweet Pongal and Venn Pongal, ordinary rice as well as rice colored red and yellow, betel leaves, betel nuts, two pieces of sugarcane, turmeric leaves, and plantains. 

All the women, young and old, of the house assembled in the courtyard. The rice is placed in the center of the leaf, while the women ask that the house and family of their brothers should prosper. 

Arati, a candle Diya is performed for the brothers with turmeric water, limestone, and rice, and this water is sprinkled on the kolam in front of the house.

The Pongal dish-

This festival is named after the traditional sweet dish Pongal (“boiling over”) made with rice boiled in milk with jaggery. This dish is first offered to the Gods and Goddesses and then enjoyed by the family members as prasad.

Some Hindu temple inscriptions from the Chola to Vijayanagara Empire periods are also known to include detailed recipes.

This is all about the History and Significance of Pongal, its 4-day celebration, and the Pongal dish. Continue reading the following article on Rituals and Celebration of Pongal.