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The name Sankranti is a general one given to
the day on which
the sun passes from one sign of the Zodiac (rasi) to another;
yet it has a restricted application and special reference to the
day on which the sun enters the house called Makara (Capricornus)
in the Tamil month of Tai corresponding to the English months of
January-February. The occasion is called ‘Makara Sankranti’
though the Tamil-speaking people call it ‘Pongal Pandigai’ for
the reason that the newly harvested rice is first cooked and
this preparation goes by the name pongal.
It is laid down in the Hindu scriptures that food should be
cooked not with the object of eating but only to serve the
purpose of a sacrifice and an offering to God. The remnant of
the food, if any, after the sacrifice, may be eaten. Hence the
newly harvested rice is cooked as an offering to the sun whose
vitality, going by the different names of electricity,
magnetism, and so forth, nourishes everything in the world, both
in the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
Though the sun is worshipped primarily and chiefly on this
occasion, yet the other elements favouring the increase of the
flock and the produce of the crops are not ignored. Vayu, the
god of wind, is worshipped on the occasion, since he is the lord
of the monsoons without which no rain is possible. The tutelary
deity of the family called the ‘Griha Devata’ is also worshipped
to ensure a happy life in the house, and the worship goes by the
name of ‘Vastu Puja’.
An open courtyard is a sine qua non in all houses of a South
Indian village, to perform marriages , for exposing grain and
other things to the sun for drying, and so on. In this courtyard
a spot where the bright sunlight falls is chosen for the
performance of the puja. The place is well scrubbed, cleaned and
washed with cowdung mixed with water. A lotus patera with
octagonal petals is designed with powdered rice deftly scattered
by the ladies of the house with their forefingers and thumbs.
The centre of this is graced with the design of the Sun god,
with his consorts Samja and Chaya, the former the daughter of
the divine architect Viswakarma, and the latter her exact
replica. The myth relating to the two consorts of the sun is as
follows:
Samja, unable to endure the effulgence of her lord, the sun,
went into the forest to perform penance with a view to obtain
sufficient strength to withstand the same, leaving her Chaya
(shadow) in her place. The sun, however, came to know of the
change effected by Samja, and consequently went in quest of her.
On the way, he found a beautiful mare and immediately fell in
love with it. Metamorphosing himself into a horse he had union
with that mare and the two Aswins of the Hindu mythology were
the fruits of this union, and they are said to be the foremost
physicians of the universe.
The children – a son and a daughter – born of Samja are – Yama,
the god of death, and Yamuna, the goddess of the river of that
name.
The consort Chaya, too, had issues born to her, and they were a
son and a daughter. The former is the planet Saturn, and the
latter is the river Tapti.
When Samja went to perform tapas (penance), she left her two
children Yama and Yamuna with Chaya, the co-wife of the sun,
with the request that they might be taken care of, and treated
with kindness. Chaya did treat them with kindness until her own
children were born, after which she began to ill-treat Samja’s
children.
Yama would not brook the partiality shown by Chaya to her
children and the injustice done to him and his sister.
Consequently he kicked his stepmother with his foot in anger,
who thereupon cursed him, saying that the foot raised to kick
her should become a mass of rotten flesh infested with loathsome
worms. Yama then approached his father and represented to him
the injustice and unfair treatment meted out to him and his
sister by Chaya and the curse by her when he kicked her in
protest.
As curses from parents could not be undone, the sun mitigated
the evil by countermanding the curse and reducing the result to
that of worms falling down with bits of flesh instead of
permanently infesting the flesh in the foot and giving trouble.
As Yama always espoused the cause of justice and was found to be
highly impartial in dealing with one and all, he won the name of
‘Dharma Raja’, the king of justice, and was appointed to hold
sway over the realms of the dead, where he administers justice
without any partiality. No one who commits a sin can escape his
punishment, and the punishment inflicted is,very just.
The myth is said to be a profound allegory containing deep
spiritual truth just as the allegory of ‘sin and death’ in
Milton’s Paradise Lost. In fact, almost all the Hindu myths are
allegories. One should pierce through the veil of words to
understand the real significance conveyed in the myths.
A bath in certain sacred rivers such as the Cauvery on the
auspicious and sacred occasion of ‘Makara Sankramana Punyakalam’
is considered highly meritorious. People therefore flock in
large numbers on this occasion every year at Tiruvadi near
Tanjore, considered specially important by the ancient Hindus,
as well as in the river Tamparaparni and in the sea at
Vedaranyam. A sage named Hemarishi is said to have prayed to
Vishnu on the banks of the tank called ‘Pottamarai Kulam’
meaning the tank of gold lotuses, in the Sri Sarangapani temple
at Kumbakonam on one such auspicious occasion and was blessed
with the sight of the lord of the temple, Sarangapani, in
response to his prayers. God Sundareswara of Madurai performed a
miracle, appearing as a magician (siddhar) before the multitude
and making a stone image of an elephant eat sugarcanes, on a
particular Sankranti day!
There is a stone inscription in the south of the vimanam of the
Viraragava temple at Tiruvallur near Madras. It relates to the
granting of land by Chola king Kulottunga for Makara Sankramana
festival, in the fifth year of his reign.
(From his book “South Indian Festivities” by Rupa & Co.)
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