Hindu Feasts, Fasts and Ceremonies/Chapter 4
4. The Bhogi and the Pongal
THE Tamil month of Margali (Sans. Mrigasira), corresponding mostly with December and running on to the 11th January, is considered by the Hindus to be a most unhealthy month. It is the month in which all kinds of epidemics—cholera, fever and small-pox are supposed to occur. Accordingly, the last day of this Tamil month is observed as a festive day by the Hindus in Southern India in thank. fulness to the higher powers that the worst month has ended. The feast is called the Bhogi-Pandigai or feast in honour of Indra, the king of heavens, the lord of the clouds, rain, seasons and everything that is the source of happiness and plenty. The word Bhoga comes from the Sanskrit root Bhuj, to enjoy. So Bhogi-Pandigai is a feast of enjoyment on account of deliverance from the calamitous month of Mrigasira.
Pongal or Sankramana or Sankranti is a festival which is observed on the first day of the Tamil month of Tai (Sans. Makara). It is a New Year’s day astronomically, and commences approximately on the 12th January every year. It is observed by the Hindus by offering boiled rice in milk to propitiate the Sun-god. Hence the feast is called the Pongal, which in Tamil means boiled rice. This feast is also called the Uttarayana feast, as the sun commences his journey towards the North on this day. Sankranti or Sankramana, which is the Aryan name for the Pongal, means the entrance of the sun into the sign Capricorn.
The Pongal is observed as a day for the special worship of the sun throughout India by the Hindus. Everything sweet is supposed to please the sun-god. So rice with sugar and milk is cooked on this day in every Hindu household. The sun-god is worshipped in the courtyard of the house with diagrams in red mud describing the sun and the moon, and puja is performed on a large scale. The Pongal food, which consists of sugar-cane and sugar-candy forms the chief offering to the god. This also constitutes the first course in a Hindu dinner. Rich men regard this day as a meritorious one for making charitable donations, and every Hindu Raja gives away large sums in charity. An assembly of Pandits sits on this day in Baroda, and grants rewards to the Hindu scholars who have passed examinations in the several departments of the Vedas, Tarka, Vyakarana, etc., of the Sanskrit language. Other Native Courts also observe the same custom. The season for marriages in Hindu households also commences on this day and lasts for six months up to the end of the Uttarayana—the whole of the summer solstice. The brides for the year get their presents on the Sankranti day and these are called the Sankranti Siru. They consist generally of new cloths, one or two ornaments and vessels and also sugar-canes, molasses, oil, ghee, etc. The Sankranti is also the day of the year in which all the old earthen utensils of a Hindu household are replaced by new ones. The pongal—boiled rice—itself must be cooked in a new pot.
The day after the Pongal is called the Mattupongal feast, or the feast in honour of the cattle. On this day all the cows, bullocks, buffaloes and horses in a Hindu household are well washed and decorated. They are also worshipped, and cooked rice is given to them. Cows generally eat cooked rice freely but bullocks and horses will not as a rule. Towards evening festoons of aloe fibre and cloths containing coins are tied to the horns of bullocks and cows and the animals are driven through the streets with tom-tom and music. This ceremony is not much observed in populous towns or by the Brahmans. They merely worship the cow during the day time. But in the villages, especially in villages inhabited by the Kalla or robber tribes, the maiden chooses as her husband him who has safely untied and brought to her the cloth tied to the horn of the fiercest bull. The bullocks are let loose with their horns carrying valuables amidst the din of tom-tom and harsh music which terrify and bewilder them. They run madly about and are purposely excited by the crowd. A young Kalla will declare that he will run after such and such a bullock—and this is sometimes a risky pursuit—and recover the valuables tied to its horn, and he does so often in a dexterous manner. These tamashas take place on a grand scale in villages round about Madura and Tinnevelly where Kallas live in large numbers. Accidents are very common but they are not allowed to interfere with the festivities. Besides, the Kalla considers it a great disgrace to be injured while chasing a bull.
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