PONGALO... PONGAL!

Day 1
Like 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 big puja, the religious offering ceremony, which is performed on first day of Pongal itself.) Very early in the morning kolams (patterns in rice flour) are drawn to decorate the front of the houses, doors are sprayed with vermilion and sandalwood paste, and garlands of leaves and flowers adorn each and every home.
On this first day, Bhogi Pongal, the rain god is worshipped. Apart from a collective ceremony in the temple of the village, there is lots of merrymaking and feasting on freshly harvested crops; old earthenware pots and other utensils are broken and potters are asked to supply new stock. It's the time of the year when the new replaces the old..

Day 2
The second day, Surya Pongal, is dedicated to the sun god. On this day, sweet rice known as 'Pongal', is cooked in a new earthenware pot which is placed where the puja is to be performed. Fresh turmeric and ginger are tied around this pot. Then a delicious concoction of rice, moong dal, jaggery and milk is boiled in the pot on an open fire. According to the ritual, this Pongal rice is allowed to boil and spill over. Once the rice is cooked, it is tempered with cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee. When the Pongal dish is ready, it is offered to the sun god on a new banana leaf along with other traditional delicacies, like vadas, payasam, etc. Some people go to their plots of land to spray some of the Pongal water on their fields.

Day 3
The third day of Pongal is known as 'Mattu Pongal' or the 'Pongal of the cattle'. On this day the bullocks from all the houses are gaily caparisoned with beads, bells and flowers. Their horns are painted and capped with gleaming metals and colourful plastic balloons. Throughout the day the cattle is paraded on the streets and in some areas the famous southern bull fights take place: a vicious bull is chosen and a handsome amount is tied around their horns and anyone who can tame the bull gets to keep the prize.
In the villages around Auroville bullock cart races are held, with families or groups of youth stacked onto the carts that go racing throughout the area, shouting: Pongal, Pongaloo..! There is happiness and excitement in the air..

Day 4
On the fourth day of Pongal sisters visit their brothers. On this day the youngsters of Chennai, for instance, take a holy dip in the sea. Those who don't want to get into the rituals of a festival also hang around the beach, just for fun with their family or friends. In the villages around Auroville, shopkeepers give gifts or a bonus to their employees to show their gratitude for the hard work they have done through out the year.

Another well known legend is associated with the third day of Pongal (Mattu Pongal, or Cow Pongal) says that lord Shiva once asked his faithful bull 'Nandi' to go to earth and tell the people that they should have an oil bath every day and eat food only once in a month. But I guess Nandi turned out to be a confused fellow as he told the people that they should eat food daily and take oil bath once a month! This definitely displeased Shiva and he decreed that, since the people would now need to grow more grains, Nandi would have to remain on earth and help them plough the fields. And so the poor bull has roamed the earth forever

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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.

The general of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb was at the gate of the Gingee fort and he was bent upon attacking Thanjavur and Madurai at any cost. Mysore in the west, had embarked on a campaign of territorial expansion by including Madurai even during the time when her husband was alive. In the south, the Raja of Travancore, who was an overlord of Madurai, had stopped paying the tribute. In the east, the powerful ruler of Ramanad, Raghunatha Thevar also known as Kilavan Sethupathi had risen in revolt in a bid for independence.


It was in this state that Rani Mangammal had to face almost without any help from outside. With her political wisdom, diplomatic skill, administrative ability and cool courage in facing danger, she was able to maintain the prestige of Madurai and regain for it much of the position it had held during the days of Tirumala Nayaka. Mangammal was the daughter of Lingama Nayaka, a general of Chokkanatha Nayaka, who ruled Madurai from 1659 to 1682 A.D. Though Chokkanatha married Mangammal early, she became the principal queen only later on when all his efforts to wed the daughter of the Thanjavur ruler Vijayaraghava Nayaka had failed. Chokkanatha died in 1682 A.D., but his queen Mangammal did not commit sati as she was a politically minded woman to whom affairs of the state was more important.


Rengakrishna Muthu Veerappa, who succeeded Chokkanatha was a spirited youth. He tried to retrieve to some extent the diminished fortunes of the kingdom. He made a name for himself by ignoring Aurangazeb with courage. When Rengakrishna died in 1689 A.D., his queen was pregnant. After she gave birth to a son, Vijayaranga Chokkanatha, she ended herself by saying that she could not live after the death of her husband. Under such
circumstances, Mangammal was forced to become regent on behalf of her infant grandson, who was crowned when he was three months old.


The first problem which Mangammal had to face was the threat from the Mughals. Zulfikhar Ali Khan, the general of Aurangazeb, who was engaged in the siege of Gingee, where Rajaram, son of Shivaji had entrenched himself, sent an army to the south to demand submission from Thanjavur which had gone into the hands of the Marathas, even during the time of her husband.


After careful deliberation, Mangammal sent her tribute and later with the help of Zulfikhar Ali, she was able to recover some portions of the kingdom lost to Thanjavur in the past. In this policy, Mangammal showed great prudence and wisdom, by skillfully bowing before the enemy. Mangammal had to face an invasion of Tiruchi by Chikkadevaraya of Mysore who sent his famous Dalavoy Kumariyya, but an attack by the Marathas on Mysore led to his recall.

In 1697 A.D., Mangammal sent an expedition to Travancore to punish its ruler, Ravi Varma, who had attacked and destroyed an army sent from Madurai to Travancore, as in the previous years, to collect the annual tribute which the king had not been paying. Mangammal's next war was against Shaji, the Maratha ruler of Thanjavur. In 1700 A.D., Dalavoy Narasappiah defeated the Thanjavur forces. For some time afterwards, friendly relations existed between the two kingdoms. They even united and proceeded against Chikkadeval.aya of Mysore who had built an anicut across the river Cauvery and prevented adequate supply of water for the irrigation of land in Thanjavur district. But by that time, heavy rains had washed off this anicut at the site of which the present Kannambadi dam stands.

Mangammal's greatest trial and serious failure was her expedition against Raghunatha Sethupathi. This ended in a defeat for the Madurai and the death of Dalavoy Narasappiah in the battle. This was a serious blow to Madurai from which it never recovered again. Mangammal died in about 1706 A.D. and was succeeded by her grandson Vijayaranga Chokkanatha Nayaka.


Mangammal did not neglect civil administration, trade and industry. She paid special attention to irrigation and communications. Many irrigation channels were repaired, new roads were constructed and avenue trees planted. The highway from Cape Comorin was originally formed during the time of Mangammal and it was known as 'Mangammal Salai'. She built many works of public utility of which the Chatram in Madurai near the railway station is a standing monument. Her own original palace in Madurai now houses the Mahatma Gandhi Museum although modified several times.

Though Mangammal was devout Hindu, she showed tolerance in religious matters. She endowed temples and mosques alike with property and was friendly to the Christian missionaries and their converts. Mangammal was an efficient and popular ruler and her memory is cherished even today in the rural areas of the district.

Rani Mangammal instituted the famous Unjal (swing) festival in the temple of Meenakshi to be performed in the month of Ani. It will be interesting that her contemporary portrait is found in the Unjal Mandapam. It may also be mentioned that Hindu kings ruled their kingdoms as the servants of God. The land was ruled in the name of the presiding God of the country. Tirumala Nayaka was ruling Madurai in a similar manner. On all celebrations, the royal sceptre (sengol) used to be placed before the Meenakshi deity and then placed on the thTone for the whole day. This symbolised that the rule of land was by the Goddess. This old practice continued even during the period of Rani Mangammal, as evidenced by a painting in the Meenakshi temple. It shows the priest of Meenakshi temple handing over the royal sceptre to the Queen

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