Nisha Aggarwal details myriad forms of celebrations of the harvest festival exploring the significance and rituals of the festivities throughout the country.
‘You are invited to the festival of this world and your life is blessed’, said Rabindranath Tagore. If I imply this saying of Tagore, I would say, ‘I was born in India in this world and my life is blessed’. Because the cultural diversity, thirty five divisions of India including states and union territories imbibes, elsewhere is not seen. Each community owns the uniqueness of their culture and religious beliefs. And celebrations, mostly the religious celebration of particular community are known as ‘festivals’. The word festival devours the ‘feast’ in itself, which means any large meal. So, a meal in honor of sacred god of particular community is an essential part of any Indian festival.
I belong to Rajasthan by birth, where Punjabi and Marwari cultures have mingled to an extent. Then living in Delhi for a decade was being a deponent of cross-cultural stream of India. Now, a central government employment, with a posting in Andhra Pradesh, gives me opportunity to peep into various cultures at a single place. Here the majority of the people are Telugu speaking Andhraites, most of others are from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the northern parts of India. I often try to hoard these cultural diversities into single pocket of mine, while living here and travelling to other places, which seems collecting the precious pebbles residing roadside.
Just now, while writing this, I am remembering the ‘colorful gems’ I have collected so far. Picking out one amongst all is going back in the month of January this year during Makar Sankranti, when I was in Andhra Pradesh. It is like opening up the page of a Hindu calendar, because besides being a major harvest festival of India, Sankranti is considered a New Year for Hindus also. The festival is celebrated in almost all parts of India and south Asia in myriad cultural forms. The day is also regarded as the beginning of an auspicious phase ‘the holy phase of transition’. It marks the end of an inauspicious phase which according to the Hindu calendar begins around mid-December. It is believed that any sacred ritual can be sanctified in Hindu families, this day onwards. That’s why the day is considered an ‘unasked’ auspicious day for marriages and other providential/ritual works. Scientifically, this day marks the beginning of warmer (termination of winter season) and longer days compared to the nights. It is a beginning of new harvest or spring season and cessation of the northeast monsoon in South India.
Makar Sankranti has an astrological significance. On that day the sun enters in the Capricorn (Sanskrit: Makara) zodiac constellation on its celestial path and the movement of the Sun from one zodiac sign into another is called Sankranti. So, the day is named as Makara Sankranti in Hindi/Indo-Aryan language. It is one of the few Hindu Indian festivals which are celebrated on a fixed date i.e. 14 January every year or may be sometimes on 15 January (leap year). This date remains almost constant with respect to the Gregorian calendar. However, precession of the Earth’s axis (called ayanamsa) causes Makara Sankranti to move over the ages. A thousand years ago, Makara Sankranti was on 31 December and is now on 14 January. According to calculations, from 2050 Makara Sankranti will fall on January 15.
All over the country, Makara Sankranti is celebrated with fervor and euphoria. However, it is observed with distinct names and rituals in different parts of the country. It is known as Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Maghi in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, Lohri in Punjab (Lohri is celebrated a day before Makar Sankranti), Bhogali Bihu in Assam, Shishur Saenkraat in Kashmir Valley, Khichdi in Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar and as Makara Sankramana in Karnataka. The importance of this day has been signified in the ancient epics like Mahabharata also. So, apart from socio-geographical importance, this day also holds a historical and religious significance.
I had observed the ‘Sankrat’ as a festival of daughters, hieratic charity to needy ones, kite flying and an enjoyment around the ‘bonfires’ in night during my days at Rajasthan. Specially, the ladies take it as a ritual of giving any type of object (related to household, make-up or food) to 14 girls/married women/needy ones (may be because the date of festival is marked on 14th of January). And it was something interesting as a child to me, because being a girl child I also used to be one of those 14. First Sankranti after marriage is special for a daughter. People invite friends and relatives (specially their sisters and daughters) to their home for special festival meals (Sankrant Bhoj). The day is celebrated with some special Rajasthani delicacies and sweets such as pheeni (either with sweet milk or sugar syrup dipped), til-paati, gajak, kheer, ghevar, pakodi, puwa, and til-ladoo etc.
In Andhra Pradesh, it is ‘Sankranthi’ instead of ‘Sankrant’ and celebrated for four days as Day 1-Bhogi, Day 2-Makara Sankranti (the main festival day), Day 3-Kanuma, and Day 4-Mukkanuma. On the preceding day Bhogi, people discard old and derelict things, which represent realization, transformation and purification. The next day/main festival day is marked with new clothes, praying, and offerings of traditional food to ancestors who have died. Andhra people are expert in decorating front of their homes with ornate drawings and patterns. They do it as daily ritual so how their festivals can be completed without rangoli? They usually make geometrical designs with help of ‘dots’ on the ground with chalk or flour, called ‘muggu’ or ‘Rangoli’ in Telugu. Afterwards these drawings are decorated with flowers and colors. In temples rangoli competitions are also organized on this day mainly depicting the bull and cow within design. In food people prepare Ariselu, Appalu (a sweet made of jaggery and rice flour) dappalam (a dish made with pumpkin and other vegetables), Pongal (a kind of Khichadi) and make an offering to God.
On the third day, Kanuma is celebrated. Nowadays Kanuma is not being celebrated widely as it used to be. Fourth day is called Mukkanuma which is popular among the non-vegetarians of the society. People in Coastal Andhra do not eat any meat or fish during the first three days of the festival, and do so only on the day of Mukkanuma, whereas people in Telangana region observe only the first two days as part of the festival. They eat rice cooked with til (sesame seeds) on the first day and eat meat on Makara Sankranthi (Pedda Panduga), the second day of the festival.
Another distinctive feature of the festival in Coastal Andhra Pradesh is the Haridasa who goes across the houses early in the morning with a colorfully dressed cow, singing songs of Lord Vishnu (Hari) hence the name Haridasa (servant of Hari). It is a custom that while going to everyone’s houses he should not talk to anyone and only sing songs of lord Vishnu. People offer rice and money into the pot like vessel that he wears on his head. People enjoy the festival as kite flying occasion also. The customs are different than of I experienced in Rajasthan and in Delhi, but the charm is same. And that is the one color of India, one can experience while living in any corner of the country.
