Pongal/Sankranti

[Mani Varadarajan]

N. Ganesan wrote:
> ANDAL does NOT refer to Sarkkarai Pongal at all.

My apologies. While Andal does not refer specifically
to sakkarai pongal, she speaks of a milk and rice
preparation (paal sOru), presumably cooked, to which
loads of ney (ghee) are added.  I presume this means a form
of pongal; further, the only kind of pongal cooked
in milk with which I am familiar is the sweet variety,
or sakkarai pongal. I think this is a reasonable
extrapolation.

You refer to a paasuram in which Andal mentions
the practice of drawing a tiruppiNDi (kOlam) using
fine grains in front of her house. This paasuram
is the first of naacciyaar tirumozi:

   tai oru tingaLum tarai viLakki
     tan maNDalam ittu mAsi munnAl
   ayya nuN maNal koNDu teru aNindu
     azhaginukku alangarittu ananga dEvA!
   uyyavumAnkolO enru Solli
     unnaiyum umbiyaiyum tozhudEn
   veyyaDOr  tazhaL umizh cakkarakkai
     vEnkadavaRku ennai vidikkiRRiyE

Rough translation:

Throughout the month of tai (mid-Jan.  to mid-Feb.), every day
let me purify the place where I am going to worship kAmadEvan and
draw beautiful kolams (drawings). Then in the first half of mAsi
(second half of Feb.), I will fill the street on which he is
going to walk over to come and bless me, with smooth sand so that
he will not feel any roughness on his feet. After he comes to my
house and sits on the seat arranged for him, I will pray to him
and to his brother, sAman, together. Both of them will be
compassionate to me and bless me with the great opportunity to
personally serve tiruvEnkaDamuDaiyAn, who is carrying in His hand
the cakrAyudham which is emanating hot fire sparks.

(taken from
 http://www.best.com/~mani/sv/alvars/andal/nt/nt-index.html)

There is no specific mention of the Pongal festival, nor
do I see any practices unique to Pongal celebrations in
her poems.  Do you know which part of naacciyaar tirumozi
you are thinking of?

Mani