Pongal- The Harvest Festival Poem by chandra thiagarajan

Pongal- The Harvest Festival

Rating: 5.0


Pongal is a festival of great living
Of New Harvest celebrating
And is the time for Thanks-giving.

It is a jubilation for four days
On mid January the first day lays
From the first of ‘THAI'in Tamil ways.

Bhogi Pongal is the first
In honor of Lord Indra the just
Who from the skies allays the Earth's thirst.

The main Pongal is on the second day
When we our humble respects pay
To the Sun-God for the harvest and pray.

Mattu Pongal falls on the third day
When the cattle which have been helping our way
Are cleaned and adorned to eat the pongal away.

Kanu Pongal is on the next day
When sisters whole-heartedly pray
For the welfare of their brothers' way.

The lovely days of Pongal jubilation
Start from early in the day with decoration
Of the entrance with KOLAM'S inspiration.

The kolams otherwise known as Rangoli
Are for welcoming the Deity Lakshmi Devi
And other guests to the home made holy.

For having had the harvest bountiful
Our gratitude to Sun-God with hearts full
We make pongal with milk and rice in clay-pots full.

All attired in new clothes and chic
With sugar-cane, ginger, and turmeric
Surround the effervescing pongal- pot and flick.

The Pongal festival brings wealth and goodness
Embodying the spirit of unity in the process
Marking a period of plenty, peace and happiness.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
THAI is the 9th month of Tamil calendar.On the first of this month falls the Main PongalFestival.
PONGAL is a cuisine which is made up of rice, milk, and jaggery, ghee, and cashew-nuts and the festival itself is named after this delicacy as PONGAL.
lord Indra is the God of skies and clouds who gives us rain.
KOLAM is a form of decoration wherein exquisite patterns are made using rice flour filling it with colour powders.
Lakshmi Devi is a Deity of wealth- the wife of Lord Vishnu one of the TRINITIES.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Gajanan Mishra 14 January 2013

Pongal festival. Congratulations. Let it brings wealth and prosperity to all.

0 0 Reply
sibi ram 16 January 2018

nice poem. very useful. happy pongal to all! !

0 1 Reply
Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi 15 January 2013

a good poem on pongal! nice to read! Happy Pongal!

0 1 Reply
Valsa George 15 January 2013

A great poem enumerating all that has to be learned about Pongal in such beautifully rhyming verse! A wonderful job, Chandra! !

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Chandra Thiagarajan 15 January 2013

UNREFINED SUGAR CANE SUGAR IS CALLED jAGGERY.IT IS SOLD IN BLOCK FORM AND IS BROWN IN COLOR.IT IMPARTS A UNIQUE SWEET TASTE.

0 0 Reply
Heather Wilson 14 January 2013

This all sounds very interesting, I enjoyed the read, I have no idea what jaggery is, I will try to look it up. Pongal festival seems to be a great celebration.

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