Pongal/Sankranti

[Chandrasekaran, Periannan]

> From: Mani Varadarajan

>
>
>
> Actually, Andal does not refer to the "Pongal" day,
> but to the the preparation of sakkarai pongal (sweet
> pongal) during the month of maargazhi (December-January)
> before Pongal.  The day on which sakkarai pongal
> is prepared is known today among Tamil Vaishnavas as
> as "kUDArai vellum". Andal describes devotees of Vishnu
> happily eating this pongal, sweetened by vellum (jaggery),
> and so rich with ghee that it drips to their elbows
> as they eat it.
>


         ANdAL ThiruppAvai's 27 th poem is the one you must be having in
mind:
"...
kUtArai vellum sIrk kOvin-thA!....
Atai utuppOm athanpinnE pARchoRu
mUta ney peythu muzangkai vazhivArak
kUti irun-thu kuLirn-thElOr empAvAi"

        It does not mention that it is sweetened with
jaggery or such item.  It says "milk rice covered with so much
clarified butter (ghee) that the ghee drips to the elbow".
Is there any connection with the word "vellum" and the "vellam"
(misspelt in the original posting: meaning jaggery)? The first word
means "vanquishing (enemies)".

> The dish known as Pongal is described in upa-purANAs as
> mudga-anna.  This preparation is prepared (at least in
> orthodox Tamil Vaishnava households) everyday of maargazhi
> as an offering to God and then consumed.  There is a
> reference in a Purana to this practice (Brahmanda Purana?).
>


> Regarding some other recent discussions:
>
> The word "bhakti" occurs in the Svetasvatara Upanishad.
> The date for this varies depending on whom you ask.
>
> The Alvars are not the first example of Vishnu bhakti
> in the Tamil country. The paripaaDal and silappadikAram
> contain lovely poems to Maal, who is none other than
> Vishnu.  These texts refer to Vishnu bhakti in a rather
> advanced state. My surmise is that the Tamil culture
> provided a fertile ground for the simultaneous growth
> of Jain, Buddhist, and Vaishnava bhakti, followed
> shortly thereafter by Saiva bhakti.

I agree with this. silappathikAram's (2nd century AD) Aychchiyar kuravai
on thirumaal and kunRakkuravai on Murukan are telling examples of bhakti
with quintessential
Tamil sentiments and formalisms. ThirumurukArruppatai is even more
serious form of Bhakti composition.
I feel that if there was any Bhakti in Jainism and Budhdhaism
it must have been basically derived from the preexisting bhakti
sentiments and practices.


>
> Mani
>