PONGALO... PONGAL!

Day 1Like any other Indian festival, the rituals of the Pongal festival are quite elaborate. The day begins with the purification process of the soul and the mind by people taking an oil bath in sesame ('til') seed oil. This is followed by huge bonfires where all the unwanted rubbish of the house, like old mats, clothes etc., is thrown into the fire. (The day before, the women have already cleaned their houses, and preparations were made for the...

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Powerful female ruler in madurai-Rani Mangammal

The history of Madurai will not be complete without mentioning the name of Rani Mangammal, the woman of great skill and sagacity. History does not provide many instances of ruling queens in Tamillnadu. Though it was considered that women were not suited to succeed the throne of a kingdom, Rani Mangammal, however,shines in almost solitary eminence as an able and powerful ruler in Tamilnadu. It was sheer circumstances that forced Mangammal to take up the reins of administering the Madurai Nayaka kingdom about the close of the 17th century. She ruled it for about eighteen years during an exceptionally troublesome period with great skill and boldness....

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