Pongal, the grand Tamil Thanksgiving festival!

THE TAMIL MONTH OF THAI HAS BEEN KNOWN AS A FESTIVE SEASON FOR MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND YEARS. IT WAS KNOWN FOR ITS GRAND RITUALS AND PENANCE. MANY EARLY TAMIL TEXTS TALK ABOUT 'THAI NEERADAL' (HOLY BATH) AND THE FEAST FOLLOWING IT AS 'THAI OON (FEAST)'. THE GRAND PONGAL FESTIVAL CELEBRATED TODAY FALLS ON THE FIRST DAY OF THIS AUSPICIOUS THAI MONTH. HERE'S A LOOK AT THE RICH HISTORY BEHIND THIS ANCIENT FESTIVAL THAT STILL RETAINS ITS GLORY TODAY.

-  MEENAKSHI DEVARAJ

Tamil Sangam-age poems dating back to roughly the 3rd century give us insight into the cultural and social life of early Tamils. It contains hundreds of poems belonging to the Ainthinai classification. According to Ainthinai, the Tamil land was divided into five landscapes. Of them is Marutham, the agricultural belt. Texts that speak about this region chronicle the prosperity and celebrations of it. Pongal, a harvest festival, is a continuation of this rich Marutham tradition.

Pongal today is celebrated as a four-day festival. The first day is known as the Bhogi Pandigai. Bhogi is another name for Lord Indira, the primary god of the agrarian landscape Marutham. It could be reminiscent of the Indira Vizha quoted in famous 6th century Tamil epics Silappathikaram and Manimegali. The main activities during Bhogi are cleaning and burning old goods and Kappu Kattuthal. The tradition of burning goods cannot be found in ancient literary texts, probably it could have cropped up as part of the cleaning process in later days. But the process of Kappu Kattuthal (tying on protection) is an ancient practice. Just like how Mango leaves, Neem, Poolai and Aavaram flowers are tied in front of the house as Kappu (protection) now during Bhogi, Sangam texts like Agananooru speak about leaves and flowers used as Kappu. This is mainly done to protect us from dangerous insects.