Pongal 2021

Pongal (poṅkal பொங்கல்) is a Tamil harvest festival. It falls on January 14th in most years, and on January 15th in some years. This is the day of winter solstice according to the sidereal solar calendar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_year). Pongal falls on the same day as Makara Sankranti in other regions of the Indian subcontinent. In the Tamil calendar, Pongal is the first day of the month of Thai (tai தை). Many Tamil people consider it the new year's day. Others celebrate the new year on April 14th (13th in leap years), the first day of the Chittirai (சித்திரை) month. But whatever be the case, Pongal is definitely the bigger celebration, and is an important cultural symbol for Tamil people the way Onam is for Malayalis. Every Tamilian celebrates Pongal, irrespective of which community they belong to. It is a Tamil festival rather than a religious one. Given that it is a celebration of newness, it makes perfect sense to me to consider it a new year's day.

The name of the festival comes from the Tamil verb 'pongù' (poṅku பொங்கு), which means 'to rise up' or 'to increase'. It refers to the boiling of milk, and is a symbol of prosperity. As a noun, 'pongù' means prosperity too. The sweet dish prepared on Pongal day is also called pongal.

This year, my kolam (kōlam கோலம்) for Pongal, drawn with rice paste as usual, shows the aintiṇai ஐந்திணை (aim- ஐம்- for ஐந்து aintu 'five' + tiṇai 'landscape') – the five kinds of landscapes in ancient Tamil poetry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_landscape). I also depict the presiding deity of each tiṇai, and attempt to connect the landscapes and their deities with the Pongal festival. See below for details 😊

Kurinji (kuṟiñci குறிஞ்சி), the Hills

Seyon (cēyōṉ சேயோன்), the Sun 🌞🔥

The hill landscape is named kuṟiñci after the bluish-purple Neela Kurinji நீல குறிஞ்சி flower (Strobilanthes kunthiana, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobilanthes_kunthiana), which abounds there and blooms once in twelve years. The Nilgiris receive their name - The Blue Mountains - from this flower. 

The presiding deity for the kuṟiñci tiṇai is Seyon, the Red One, later identified with Murugan (murukaṉ முருகன்) and Karttikeya. His redness connects him to Fire and to the Sun, and Pongal is a day on which people give thanks to the Sun for the harvest. My kolam shows the rising Sun and a prehistoric volcano in the background. In front of the hills, Seyon stands holding his vel (vēl வேல்), a javelin-like weapon. In front of him stand his vehicle the peacock (mayil மயில்) and his flag emblem the rooster (cēval சேவல்). There is also a goat, which is said to have been his first vehicle. Agni, the fire god of the north, also rides a goat or ram (male sheep), and Karttikeya is said to have been born from Agni. This mythology entered the Murugan narrative of the south when Murugan became equated to Karttikeya of the north.

Pongal is connected to fire too. The previous day, Bhogi, is meant for replacing the old with the new. It is celebrated by making bonfires of old things that are not of use anymore.

The tall tree to Seyon's right is inspired by the Malai Naaval (Syzygium caryophyllatum) trees that I saw in Coonoor in the Nilgiris district in January 2020.

Mullai (முல்லை), the Forest

Maayon (māyōṉ மாயோன்), God of Cattle 🐄🐂🐃

This landscape is named after the Mullai flower (wild jasmine, Jasminum angustifolium), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasminum_angustifolium. The Mullai landscape refers to both forests and pastures. Its presiding deity is Maayon , the Dark One, the flute-playing god of the pastures. This god later got associated with Krishna. I show him here accompanied by a bull (with the large hump), a calf, two cows and a buffalo. 

Cattle are a very important part of the Pongal celebration. The second day of the festival, Thai 2nd (January 15th, or in some years January 16th), is celebrated as Maattù Pongal (māṭṭu-p poṅkal மாட்டுப் பொங்கல்), the Pongal of cattle (maadù – māṭu மாடு). Cows and buffaloes are worshipped. There are also bullock-cart races and jallikkattù (ஜல்லிக்கட்டு), a sport in which people try to hang on to a bull's hump as it runs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallikattu

Maayon is said to have married the goddess Nappinnai after he won a contest by subduing seven ferocious bulls. 

Marudham (marutam மருதம்), the Agricultural Lands

Vendhan (vēntaṉ வேந்தன்), God of Rain ⛈

This landscape is named after the Marudham plant (either the Arjuna tree, Terminalia arjuna, or a kind of crepe-myrtle, Lagerstroemia speciosa). Marudham also means a rice field. Pongal being a harvest festival, it has an intimate association with this landscape. Here I depict the typical Pongal symbol – two sticks of sugarcane, and the sweet dish sarkkarai pongal, which contains rice, moong dal, milk, jaggery, ghee, cashews and raisins, cooking in a pot decorated with a turmeric plant. 

I also show the patron deity, Vendhan, whose name literally means 'king'. He is most probably a rain god, owing to his association with the agricultural fields. He later got identified with Indra, the rain god of the north. I depict him holding a cloud and a thunderbolt in his hands.

Pongal is the time when both rice and sugarcane are harvested. Along with sarkkarai pongal, sugarcane is also eaten. Of course one doesn't literally eat it, one sucks out its juice and discards the rest. 😁

The sugarcane that I bought this year :)

Left: veN pongal வெண்பொங்கல் (literally 'white pongal'). Like sarkkarai pongal, this is made from rice and moong dal and has ghee and cashews, but it is not a sweet dish, and is flavoured with cumin and pepper.

Right: sarkkarai pongal சர்க்கரைப் பொங்கல் (literally 'sugar pongal' or 'jaggery pongal'), with the turmeric (manjal – mañcaḷ மஞ்சள்) plant around the pongal pot.

Neydhal (neytal நெய்தல்), the Sea Coast

Kadalon (kaṭalōṉ கடலோன்), the Sea God 🌊

This landscape is named after waterlilies (Nymphaea sp.), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphaea. The patron deity of the sea coast is Kadalon, later identified with the northern sea god Varuna.

For fisherfolk, Pongal becomes a day to give thanks to the ocean (kadal – kaṭal கடல்) for the harvest of fish. In my kolam, Kadalon rides a swordfish, since as per the Madras University Tamil lexicon, the 'horn' of this fish (https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/tamil-lex_query.py?qs=curavukkotu&matchtype=default) was sacred to the inhabitants of the Neydhal landscape. I also depict him with a trident in his hand like the Greek and Roman gods of the ocean, to reflect maritime trade of ancient Tamil people with these communities.

Paalai (pālai பாலை), the Arid Lands

Kottravai or Kottavai (koṯṯavai/ koṯṟavai கொற்றவை), the Goddess of War and Victory 🏹⚔🗡

In Tamil, paalai or paalaivanam (பாலைவனம்) means a desert. It apparently also refers to flowering plants of the genus Wrightia, although I don't see how that could be connected to a desert. The patron goddess of this tiṇai is Kottravai, whose name is derived from koṯṯam கொற்றம், meaning victory. She is also called Aiyai ஐயை (a feminine term of respect). She is the goddess of war and victory, to whom the blood of enemies slain in battle was offered as a sacrifice. Owing to this, she later got identified with Durga Mahishasuramardini (slayer of Mahishasura the buffalo demon), and with Durga's avatar Kali. The Kali association could also be due to Kottravai inhabiting the wastelands.

Here I show her standing with three weapons – vil, vēl and vāḷ (bow, vel and sword). There is a buffalo head at her feet to represent the buffalo demon. It is quite possible that a non-Aryan buffalo-demon-slaying warrior mother goddess got appropriated into the Hindu narrative as Durga.

Her vehicle is a kalai (கலை) or kalai-māṉ (கலைமான்), male of the blackbuck antelope (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbuck), which may inhabit arid regions. It stands to her left, displaying its spiral horns. Diagonally opposite to it is a female blackbuck, piṇai பிணை. 

The 5th-century (?) Tamil epic Silappadhikaaram (cilappatikāram சிலப்பதிகாரம்), Tale of the Jewelled Anklet, has a hymn to Kottravai (my translation at https://www.instagram.com/p/CGxKtcYJWbD/) where it is clear that her equation to Durga Mahishasuramardini is complete. It first describes her as standing atop a blackbuck, and then atop a lion (Durga's vehicle). It also mentions Mahishasura, both as a wild buffalo (kāṉattu erumai கானத்து எருமை) and using the name mayiṭaṉ (மயிடன்), a Tamil rendering of the Sanskrit word mahiṣa महिष.

Pongalō Pongal!