India - Makara Sankranthi

Makara Sankranthi (or  Makar Sankranti)

Certain Hindu festivals are associated with the annual cycle of seasons. Pongal in the South is celebrated to mark the withdrawal of the southeast monsoons as well as the reaping of the harvest. It is the biggest harvest festival, spread over three days. Pongal denotes a sweet preparation made from rice. Each of the three days are marked by different festivities. The first day, Bhogi Pongal, is a day for the family. Surya Pongal, the second day, is dedicated to the worship of Surya, the Sun God. Boiled milk and jaggery is offered to the Sun God, and friends greet each other asking, "Is it boiled?" The answer: "Yes, it is." The third day of Pongal, Mattu Pongal, is for worship of the cattle known as mattu. Cattle are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colours, and garlands of flowers placed around their necks. The pongal that has been offered to the Gods is then given to cattle and birds to eat.

The advent of Pongal is associated with spring-cleaning and burning of rubbish, symbolizing the destruction of evil. Decorative designs or rangolis are traced on floors and on the day of the Pongal, the newly harvested rice is cooked in homes to acclaim the bounty of the gods.

Sankranthi is a holy day for many reasons. It was the day on which Adi Sankara took sanyasa. On this day it is a custom to offer a mixture of Jaggery and sesame (til). Jaggery is sweet and is a symbol of Love. Til is also known as "sneha" which means friendship. Therefore the offering of the Jaggery-till mixture means offering to the people love surcharged with friendliness. The message is : Develop harmony towards every one.

Sankranthi promotes love among one's kith and kin and friends as all of them come together to celebrate this festival. It is on this day the  Gangi  bull trainers take their decorated animals from house to house, play music in front of the houses and make the bulls demonstrate their skills before the family gathering. The bulls are also made to give demonstration in the market place with a view to promote fellow feelings and harmony. The girls in every home will take their younger brothers to such demonstrations. The trainer of these animals will be dressed in a special way and display large caste marks on his forehead. The bull will be taught to respond to instructions designated to promote love and happiness in the home, by relating the story of the deeds of Rama and Sita. Rama and Sita represents the Omni-self and Nature. Their union is to be celebrated by the offering of one's love to the divine couple. Thus, the performance, of the sacred bull on Sankranthi day convey a profound message to the people.

 

UTTARAAYANA PUNYA-KAALA :

This holy day marks the commencement of the Sun's northern course in the Heavens - the Uttaraayana patha. This turn in the Sun's course takes place at the point of time when it enters the sign of Makara or Capricorn. From this day the day-duration increases and the night decreases. It is the harbinger of more light and sunshine in life and lessening of its darker aspects. This happy occasion is termed as Pongal in Tamilnadu and as Khichadi in northern Bharat - both of them being names of sweet delicacies specially prepared on that day!

Light symbolizes the warmth, i.e., the love and affection, the quality of the heart. In many areas of Bharat, this is symbolized by the distribution of til-gul - the til seed and jaggery. The til brimming with fragrant and delicious oil, stands for friendship and comradeship and jaggery for the sweetness of speech and behavior. The distribution of til-gul, therefore, forms a touching aspects of the Makara Sankramana celebration.

On the social plane, the Sankraanti carries a vital significance for national welfare. It is the warmth of love and fellow-feeling among the people of a country that ultimately makes them stand up in unison in adversity or in prosperity. It is the necessary lubricant to make the nation's machine work smoothly without friction. Even the great precepts of `liberty' and `equality' lose their meaning without the basic requisite of `fraternity' among the people. Fraternity alone will ensure a spirit of selfless service and sacrifice in the cause of fellow countrymen. Selfishness - the ultimate destructor of the social fabric - is cured and social consciousness generated where a spirit of fraternity is alive.

Sankraanti, signifying light, also gives the message of intellectual illumination. It is the capacity to discriminate between the right and the wrong, the just and the unjust, truth and falsehood, virtue and vice. It is this discriminative wisdom - Viveka - which leads the individual on the path of human evolution and human happiness. Mere dry reasoning power devoid of this insight will be like the charging of a wild horse without the stirrup and the rider.

In a year, Sun passes through the twelve house of the zodiac in twelve months. The Sun's entry into each house of the zodiac is described as a Sankramana. 'Kranthi' means 'change'. Sankranthi means a secured change. The Sun's entry into each house of the zodiac is not considered equally holy. What, then is the reason for giving special importance and sacredness to 'Makara Sankramana' the entry of the sun into 'Makara' (Capricorn)? Besides the physical qualities associated with the sun's movement into each house of the zodiac, there is an inner spiritual significance related to the 'Makara Sankramana'. The sun's takes its entry into Capricorn between the months of Margasira and Pushyam. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna has declared, "Among the months, I am the month of Margasira". The Margasira month is the crown among the twelve month. What is the reason? Among the planets of the solar system, the sun is the presiding deity. Without the sun, the life process in the world will cease. During the month of Margasirsha, the world experiences the abundance of the harvested food grains, which sustain and confer joy on the people.

Every farmer's granary is filled with grain. The weather during the season is cool and pleasant. It is an appropriate time for enjoying peaceful rest. It is the time when man is free from the burdens of daily toil and can devote his time to enjoy with his children and his cattle.

The Sankranthi festival was thus designed to promote harmony and love in the family, to make people realise the unity of the Creator and the Creation, to teach the people their obligations, to instill heroism in them by making the Sun God their example, and, above all, to make them realise their inherent Divinity. This is the sacred purpose of the Sankranthi festival. Today such a holy festival has been converted into a day for the enjoyment of Jaggery and Til, totally missing its inner significance. People are immersed in the darkness of self indulgence. Rich cooked with Jaggery is a special preparation for the Sankranthi day.

The Sankranthi festival should be regarded as the day on which man turns his vision towards God. Man's life may be compared to a stalk of sugarcane. Like the cane, which is hard and has many knots, life is full of difficulties. But these difficulties have to be over come to enjoy the bliss of the Divine, just as the sugarcane has to be crushed and its juice converted to Jaggery to enjoy the permanent sweetness of Jaggery. Enduring bliss can be got only by over-coming the trials and tribulations.

Thus Sankranthi is intended to bring about various changes in man's attitude, so that he may sanctify his life. It is a festival not intended for Bharatiyas alone. Its message has a meaning for every one in the world. It has a message for people of all castes, creeds and countries.

The evidence of this festival being lucky is found in our great epic Mahabharat wherein it is told that the great warrior-hero, Bhishma Pitamaha even after being wounded and lying on the bed of arrows, lingered on till Uttarayan set in, to breathe his last. It is believed that the person who dies on this auspicious day of Sankrant escapes the cycle of birth and re-birth and that his soul mingles with the Almighty.

This festival is celebrated differently in different parts of the country yet the use of til that is sesame is found everywhere. Til or sesame seed contain lot of oil and they therefore have a quality of softness in them. Therefore, firstly the use of til in sweets is good for health and secondly being soft their exchange means exchange of love and tender feelings.

In Maharashtra on the Sankranti day people exchange multi-coloured tilguds made from til (sesame seeds) and sugar and til-laddus made from til and jaggery. Til-polis are offered for lunch and these are specialities of Maharashtra. Maharashtrian women are proud of their excellence in preparing these delicacies. While exchanging tilguls as tokens of goodwill people greet each other saying - "til-gul ghya, god god bola" meaning "accept these tilguls and speak sweet words". The under-lying thought in the exchange of tilguls is to forget the past ill-feelings and hostilities and resolve to speak sweetly and remain friends. This is a special day for the women in Maharashtra when married women are invited for a get-together called "Haldi-Kumkoo" and given gifts of any utensil, which the woman of the house purchases on that day.

In Gujarat Sankrant is observed more or less in the same manner as in Maharashtra but with a difference that in Gujarat there is a custom of giving gifts to relatives. The elders in the family give gifts to the younger members of the family. The Gujarati Pundits on this auspicious day grant scholarships to students for higher studies in astrology and philosophy. This festival thus help the maintenance of social relationships within the family, caste and community.

In Punjab where December and January are the coldest months of the year, huge bonfires are lit on the eve of Sankrant and which is celebrated as "LOHARI". Sweets, sugarcane and rice are thrown in the bonfires, around which friends and relatives gather together. The following day, which is Sankrant is celebrated as MAGHI. The Punjabi's dance their famous Bhangra dance till they get exhausted. Then they sit down and eat the samptions food that is specially prepared for the occasion.

In Bundelkhand and Madhya Pradesh this festival of Sankrant is known by the name "SUKARAT" or "SAKARAT" and is celebrated with great pomp merriment accompanied by lot of sweets.

In Uttar Pradesh, Sankranti is called "KICHERI". Having bath on this day is regarded as most important. A mass of humanity can be seen bathing in the Sangam at Prayagraj where the rivers Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswathi flow together. At the confluence of these holy rivers every year Kumbh Mela is held for full one month.

In Bengal every year a Mela is held at Ganga Sagar where the river Ganga is believed to have dived into the nether region and vivified the ashes of the sixty thousand ancestors of King Bhagirath. This mela is attended by a large number of pilgrims from East India.

The tribals in our country start their New Year from the day of Sankrant by lighting bonfires, dancing and eating their particular dishes sitting together. The Bhuya tribals of Orissa have their Maghyatra in which small home-made articles are put for sale.

There is also a fair in the Western Ghats at a place called Shabari Mala, where the temple of the Community Goddess is decorated with dazzling lights. The Goddess is worshipped by touchables and un-touchables both and the "bhog" to the Goddess is cooked in the touchables and un-touchables both. These tribals participate in the Mela and enjoy all together as if they belong to one single family. May be therefore, the experts pine that this festival of Makar Sankrant comes to us from those olden times when the caste system did not exist in India as it emphasises or communal harmony.