Enjoy the #Pongal #festival

 This year, Bhogi Pongal is on 14th Jan, Pongal on 15th Jan and Mattu Pongal on 16th jan. Kannum Pongal is on the final day. 

Lord Indra gives us adequate rain. Dedicated to Lord Indra, the first day of Bhogi pongal, as this tradition is called, is full of joy and merriment. It is fascinating to watch young girls dance around a bonfire kept burning with mud, wood and cowdung. 

Prayers are offered to the Sun God on the second day marking the main festival of Pongal. On this day we create beautiful rangolis with rice flour in front of the house and wear new traditional clothes. We wait for the auspicious time, to tie a turmeric plant around a curved pot and decorate it with haldi kumkum. Milk is allowed to boil and overflow in this vessel symbolically for prosperity and well being to overflow in the family. A delicious sweet porridge of milk, rice, dhal and sugar is prepared as offering for the Sun God along with sugarcane, and the mandatory betel leaves, betel nuts, coconut and yellow bananas.  

Mattu Pongal follows on the third day when prayers are offered to the cows which help the farmers in so many ways. Everywhere in Tamil Nadu, we can see colorful sights of cows decorated with garlands and tilak wearing a string of colourful beads and bells around the cow’s neck. Puja and arati is performed. The famous Jalli kattu or bull fight is also organized in villages. Kannum Pongal is a traditional feature on the final day, when a turmeric leaf is washed and kept in the open courtyard on which rice, betel leaves, nuts, turmeric, coconut etc. are placed. In some places, arati is performed for the brothers by the sisters, who pray for the prosperity of their families.

As we all know no festival is complete without food delicacies and Pongal is no exception. The Sakkarai Pongal and the Venn Pongal are symbolic of the festival, simple and delicious, yet highly nutritious too.

Here are the recipes for you to prepare and enjoy.

Sakkarai Pongal

Ingredients:

Raw Rice – 1 cup
Yellow Moong Dhal – 1/4 cup
Milk – 1 litre
Jaggery – 2 cups (grated)
Cashews – 3 tablespoons
Raisins – 3 tablespoons
Powdered Cardamom – ½ teaspoon
Ghee – 3 tablespoons


Method:

Roast the moong dhal in a teaspoon of ghee till it slightly changes color. Remove on to a bowl and soak it along with raw rice in water for 10 minutes. Strain it to remove water.

Take a vessel and boil milk. Add  the soaked and strained rice and dhal to the milk and cook on low flame till the rice is cooked. Mash it up with a spoon and keep aside.

Add the jaggery to water and bring to a boil. Strain to remove impurities. Add this jaggery water to the milk, rice and dhal mixture. Stir well on a low flame till they are completely mixed.

Take a pan and pour the rest of the ghee in it. Fry Cashews and raisins in the ghee to a golden brown and add the pongal mixture. Stir on low flame till they blend well. Add cardamom powder and mix.

Your Sakkarai Pongal is ready to serve.

Venn Pongal

Ingredients

Yellow Moong Dhal – 1/2  cup

Raw Rice -  3/4 cup

Ghee – ¼ cup

Cashew nuts – 2 tablespoons

Ginger sliced or minced – ½ teaspoon (optional)

Green chilly chopped -1 (optional)

Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper – 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Salt to taste

Method

Roast the moong dhal in a teaspoon of ghee till it slightly changes color and gives off a lovely smell. Remove on to a bowl and soak it along with raw rice in water for 10 minutes. Cook the dhal and rice together in a pressure cooker with 3 ½ cups of water for 6 to 7 whistles. Grind the pepper and cumin to a coarse powder after dry roasting.

 Heat the ghee in a pan. Fry the broken cashew nuts to a golden brown. Add ginger, curry leaves and green chilly (optional). Roast on a low flame. Add in the pepper-cumin mixture and roast for a few seconds. Pour the cooked rice-dhal mixture and add salt to taste. Stir till the entire mixture blends well.

Your Venn Pongal is ready to serve.

#Pongal #SarkaraiPongal #VennPongal #Recipe #BhogiPandigai #MattuPongal #Jallikattu

#AADIPOORAM #UMADEVI #ANDAL #SRIVILLIPUTHUR #GODHA #RANGANATHASWAMI #GLASSBANGLES #TEMPLE #FESTIVAL

 

One of the most important days during the Aadi month is Aadi Pooram, which is celebrated as the day Goddess Parvati made her appearance on earth as the daughter of the king of the mountains, Parvataraja Himavan. 

This is the day when all the Bhagavati temples exhibit a celebratory fervour among the devotees. People throng to the temples to pray to the Goddess to bless them with happiness and prosperity. They make offerings of glass bangles for the Goddess Mother. This is known a valaikappu ceremony for Amman, after which the bangles are distributed to the devotees as Devi Prasadam.

There is a significant belief among devotees in Tamil Nadu that by performing the Aadi Pooram Vratham with utmost devotion, and offering glass bangles to the Goddess, She will bless young unmarried girls with early marriage and married women with children. 

Aadi Pooram is also the day when Goddess Andal appeared as an infant girl near a Tulsi plant at Srivilliputhur. Sri Andal is Goddess Mahalakshmi incarnate and the only female Alwar among the 12 Vaishnava poet saints known as Alwars. 

The Srivilliputhur Andal temple in Virudhunagar district is located at a distance of around 80 Kms from Madurai and takes about one and half to two hours to reach. The sight of the extremely beautiful temple tower (gopuram) signaled that we had arrived at our destination. Interestingly, this 192 feet tall, 11 tiered imposing Raja Gopuram is featured on the emblem of Tamil Nadu indicative of the importance accorded to the temple as one of the 101 Divya Desams dedicated to Lord Mahavishnu.

Raja Gopuram

The temple has been in existence since ages and is also associated with the incarnation of Goddess Mahalakshmi as Andal (also known as Kothai or Godha). So it is a two in one temple complex with shrines to Vatapatrasayana Perumal and Andal separately.

The original deity is Lord Vatapatrasayana Perumal. We enter a huge hall and have to climb a flight of steps to reach the main sanctum sanctorum. 

On the way to the sanctum sanctorum

There are three doorways through which one can have the divine darshan of the Lord in a reclining posture on the Adishesha with his consorts, Sridevi and Bhoodevi. Sage Brighu is standing near the Lord while Sage Markandeya is praying with folded hands reverently at his feet. 

Perumal Sannidhi

There are also images of Narada, Panchamurthis, Sanatkumara, Surya and Chandra, apart from Villi and Puttan.

Way to Andal Sanctum

There is a garden in the middle where Andal is said to have appeared as an infant near a Tulsi plant and was found by Perialwar. This is called Andal avatharitha Nandavanam. The temple tank in called Mukkulam and is believed to have the holy waters of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi.

The entrance to the Andal temple has a huge Mandapam.

Entrance to Nandavanam where Andal made her first appearance

 The deity of the Goddess is breathtakingly beautiful.  There is a Kalyana Mandapam and Madhavi Pandhal  a little further away. 

Andal Sannidhi

The story of Andal is an exceptional example of devotion.  

The great devotee, Perialwar, had no children. Once on the day of Aadi Pooram, he found an infant girl child near the holy Tulsi plant in the temple. With the permission of the Lord, he adopted the girl child and named her Kothai/ Godha meaning a garland of flowers. He brought her up with love and affection. Perialwar used to pluck flowers and tulsi leaves from the garden and weave a garland for Lord Vatapatrasayee with his own hands. He would then present it to the Lord. Kothai used to observe this and help him. One day when Perialwar left her for a few minutes before leaving for the temple, she had a strange desire to wear the garland. She wore it and then removed it before her father came back. Without knowing that Kothai had worn the garland, Perialwar offered it to the priest for Lord Mahavishnu.  Kothai started wearing the garland and admired herself every day after that before her father took it to the temple. But one day the priest happened to see a strand of hair in the garland. He was furious. He refused to offer it to the deity. Perialwar was stunned and sad at the turn of events. He kept a secret watch over the garland and found to his dismay that it was his daughter, Andal, who was wearing the garland before he took it to the temple. He was very angry with her and discarded the garland. He then made another garland to be offered to the Lord. That night he had a dream when Mahavishnu said that he would accept only the garland worn by Andal. This happened when the child was just five years old. 

Andal grew up and her father wanted to search for a suitable bridegroom for her. But Andal’s mind was fixed on her Shri Krishna. Her devotion to the Lord was unshakable. Then it was that the Lord appeared once again in Perialwar’s dream and bade him bring Andal dressed as a bride to Srirangam. It is believed that, when Andal was taken in wedding procession and reached Srirangam, she just entered the sanctum and merged with the Lord.  

The festivals celebrated at this temple are Aadi Pooram, GodhaRangamannarThirukalyanam, Vasanta utsavam, Brahmotsavam etc.

#Andal #AadiPooram #festival #Srivilliputhur #temple #GodhaRangamannar 

Aadi Pirappu #Aadimasam #Bhagawatiseva #Neipayasam

Aadi Pirappu, the beginning of Aadi Masam is the day when we invite the Goddess Adi Parashakti into our homes to stay and bless us with happiness, while we pray to her with complete devotion.  This year, it is to be celebrated on 17th July 2025.

During the Aadi masam, it is common for people to perform Bhagawati Sevai puja at their homes to worship the Goddess mother. Tuesdays (Aadi Chevvai) and Fridays (Aadi Velli) are extremely auspicious, though it is to be noted that the puja can be performed on any day during the month as the entire month is considered auspicious for worshipping the divine Mother. 

The priest (Vadhyar) draws the Padmam himself and decorates it with yellow turmeric powder and red Kumkumam. The vilakkus (either two or three as per the tradition of each house) are then decorated with flower garlands, chandanam(sandal paste) and kumkumam. They are filled with ghee and lit. The puja starts with the invocation of Lord Ganesh. This is followed by invocation of Goddess Parashakthi. Lalitha Sahasranamam, Lalitha Thrisithi Mantram, Durga Sooktham, and some chapters from the Devi Mahatmyam (Durga Sapta Shathi) are chanted, while offering various types of flowers to the Goddess.  The atmosphere is divine and one can actually feel the presence of the Devi when the puja is performed with sincerity and devotion. 

There are two neivedyams offered during this puja, the delicious Nei Payasam and Ulundu Vadai. The neivedhyam is then offered as prasadam to all those who are attending the puja.

Here is the recipe for the Nei Payasam

Ingredients

Raw Rice – 250 gms.

Jaggery - 1 Kg.

Ghee – ½ Kg

Cardamom – 6-8 crushed to powder

Fresh coconut – finely sliced ½ cup

Method of Preparation

First sauté the thinly sliced coconut pieces in ghee till they turn slightly brown. Keep aside.

Wash the rice well and cook.

Powder the jaggery/vellam/gud (you can use powdered vellam available in grocery stores). Take the jaggery in water just enough to dissolve in a thick bottomed vessel or Kadhai.

Boil it till all the jaggery melts and dissolves into syrup. Strain for impurities.

Add the cooked rice to the jaggery syrup and stir continuously while adding ghee little by little. You have to ensure that no lumps are formed. The mixture will thicken as you keep stirring. It will slowly start leaving the sides of the vessel. Add the powdered cardamom and the coconut slices.

The delicious Nei payasam for neivedyam is ready.

(For a variation you can sauté some cashew and raisins in ghee along with the coconut slices. It tastes really good.)

#Thiruvadhirai, #ArudraDarshanam, a famous #festival in #TamilNadu and #Kerala

 

 I am sharing an excerpt from my book 'Kerala the Divine Destination' on this auspicious occasion. 

The legend behind the festival is very interesting. Lord Shiva was the only one amongst all the Devas who was not invited by Dakshan, the father of Goddess Sati, for the Maha Yagna which he was performing. However, though the Lord warned her about the consequences of being an uninvited guest albeit at her father’s house, Sati went for the Yagna. She was ignored and forced to hear her husband insulted by her father, upon which she immolated herself in the sacrificial fire. She was reborn as Goddess Parvathy, the daughter of Himavan and Myenadevi, and did penance for a long time for securing Lord Shiva as her husband. Meanwhile, an Asura named Tarakasur, acquired the boon of not meeting death at the hands of anyone except the combined power of Shiva and Shakti. The Lord was in meditation and nobody had the courage to disturb Him, but the Devas unable to bear the torture of Tarakasur instructed Kamdev to lure Lord Shiva with his cupid’s arrow to Goddess Parvathy who was doing penance and serving the Lord. Shiva was furious at being disturbed and opened his third eye to reduce Kamdev to ashes. Being pleased with her long penance, and recognizing his beloved Sati in this new Avatar, He accepted Parvathy as his consort. Rati, the wife of Kamdev wept at Lord Shiva’s feet, and being persuaded by Goddess Parvathy gave the solution for the resurrection of Kamdev as Lord Krishna’s son. An important part of the festival is the 'Ettangadi chuduka' , during which, eight different tubers are roasted in the fire. It is believed that Kamadeva's body is represented by the tubers and by this ritual, his body is resurrected.Thiruvadira being the day that Lord Shiva accepted Parvathi as his consort, the festival is more woman centric as women from the traditional Malayali families fast for the well being of their husbands and marital bliss, whereas unmarried women undertake the fast to get a good husband.

The day starts early in the morning with a visit and prayers to the nearest Shiva temple before sunrise in traditional attire.The women then prepare the Kanzhi – puzhukku for the meal. The Kanzhi is made of broken wheat. The Thiruvadira puzhukku is a delicious concoction of chembu (colocasia), chenai (yam), koorkai (chinese potato), Madhurakizhangu (Sweet potato) , all tubers, with payaru (red cow beans) and kaaya (raw banana).They are cooked with salt and freshly ground coconut. Another speciality of the Thiruvadira meal is the koova payasam, a sweet dish made of arrow root powder, jaggery and coconut milk. Even the women who are fasting can have these items as they do not contain rice and fasting during Thiruvadhira means abstaining from consumption of rice for the Malayali women. In Palakkad, the same pattern of early morning visit to the Shiva temple is followed. However their meal consists of Kali and Kootu.









The women gather for the song and dance routine, so typical of the festival, on the day prior to Thiruvadhira on the Makeeram star, which lasts through the night. A big brass lamp (nelavilakku) is placed in the middle and the women form a circle around it. They start dancing with swaying movements and clapping of hands to the rhythm of the song that is first sung by the leader and repeated by the group members. They start with the invocation of Ganapathy and Goddess Saraswathy. The Thiruvathira pattu (songs) are simple yet full of meaning. Their lyrics are about Parvathi’s love and longing for Shiva, her penance and the description Shiva’s power and divinity. The dance of Kaikottikali has been performed during Thiruvadira for ages and the hand movements and dance gestures are common to the region.The dress for the dancers is very traditional. It consists of two pieces, a cream coloured dhoti (mundu) and an upper garment (neriyathu) of the same colour. Generally there is a gold coloured border for both the garments.

At midnight there is a ceremony called pathira poochoodal, when the women will adorn the dasapushpam (10 important medicinal flowers) on their hair with utmost devotion. The pathirapoochoodal ceremony for a newly wedded bride is even more special and is called poothiruvadhira. The dance then continues until the wee hours of dawn. In the midst of all the ritual there is a unique ritual of consuming 108 betel leaves with scented arecanuts by the women. These leaves are first offered to Lord Shiva and then taken and chewed.


#Thiruvadhira #Festival #Kerala #TamilNadu #Chidambaram #Kaikottikali #LordShiva

Stree-The Women of the Ramayana #book

Would you be interested in knowing about Kaikeyi, the gorgeous queen who turned a prince into God? What was the actual reason behind her actions? 

Did you know that a celestial nymph was cursed to turn into a monkey and went on to become the mother of Hanuman, the most worshipped devotee of Lord Ram?  

How did Lakshman manage to evade sleep for 14 years? 

Have you heard the story of Shanta, Lord Ram's elder sister?

A new book on the anvil,co-authored by Jai Shukla and Lalitha Balasubramanian, published by Om Books International, will excite readers with stories about these and other

lesser known women characters in the magnificent epic Ramayana, revered by many in the world. 

This book is available on 

https://amzn.in/d/bfZxZ00 

#ramayana #women

Holika Dahan & Holi - the Festival of colours

 The colourful festival of Holi falls on 6^th and 7^th March this year. And it signifies the victory of good over evil, as do most of our Hindu festivals, advent of spring, love and joy. The celebrations will begin on 6^th  evening on Purnima (full Moon day), with everyone gathering around the bonfire for Holika Dahan, also called Chhoti Holi. 

The celebration will extend on 7th  morning with people sprinkling colour on each other in absolute merriment, without any distinction between caste, creed or gender. This is called Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi or Phagwan.

Holi festival finds mention is ancient scriptures as well as the seventh century play Ratnavali and draws on two legends from Hindu Mythology. The bonfire is lit during Chhota Holi to symbolise the vanquishing of the demoness Holika by Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu wanted to become immortal and all powerful. He performed severe penance to invoke Lord Brahma. It is said that Lord Brahma granted him five boons in lieu of the boon of immortality which he wanted, that he would not be killed by man or animal, during day or night, inside the house or outside the house, on the ground or in the air, by any weapon. These boons made him almost invincible and he became a tyrant. His hatred for Lord Vishnu was due to Vishnu being the cause of his brother’s death. He even went to the extent of banning the worship of Lord Vishnu in his realm. But as fate would have it, his son Prahlad was a sincere devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu tried to make Prahlad give up his devotion to Vishnu.  Angered by his failure, he wanted to kill his own son and tried various means to do so, but each time, Lord Vishnu saved his devotee. Hiranyakashipu then called on his sister, Holika to help him. Holika had a boon in the form of a shawl that would protect her from being burnt in a fire.  According to the plan, Holika would sit covered with her magical shawl on a pyre of wood and the child, Prahlad, on her lap. The pyre would be lit and Prahlad would be burnt to death while Holika would be saved because of her divine shawl.  But when the pyre was lit, Lord Vishnu caused a sharp breeze to remove the shawl from Holika’s shoulders and cover Prahlad instead. Prahlad was thus left untouched while the demonness, Holika, was burnt to death. Even today, it is a common practise in some places to offer cereals to the bonfire and sacred hymns are chanted to destroy the evil in our minds. The ash from the bonfire is collected and smeared on the forehead to ward off evil forces.

 The morning of the next day is celebrated as Rangwali Holi. This celebration with smearing of colours and splashing coloured water on each other draws its origin apparently from the tales of Krishna and Radha. It is believed that the dark skinned Krishna was worried that the fair Radha and other girls like her would not like him and mentioned this to his mother Yashoda. Yashoda maiyya at once asked him to colour Radha’s face with whatever colour he wanted to, and thus began the tradition of Holi and the splash of colours. Holi celebrations in Braj, Mathura, Gokul, Nandgaon and Vrindavan, places where Krishna spent his childhood, are wonderful to experience. They start a week earlier itself and last for some more days after Holi.  Another place where Holi is played with abandon is Barsana, the birthplace of Radha Rani. Here, there is a difference in the way the festival is celebrated. The men of Nandgaon drench the women of Barsana with colours and want to enter the temple of Radhikaji, but the women resist by beating them with sticks, all played with fun and in the right spirit. This is called Latmaar Holi. It is said that Krishna too faced the same fate in the hands of Radha and the other Gopis. 

Colours are the essence of holi celebrations. Traditionally natural colours were sourced from plants, herbs, leaves and flowers like yellow from turmeric, green from mehendi and other leaves, violet and blue from indigo and berries, red from flowers like hibiscus and flame of the forest and brown from tea leaves. But in recent times, these have given way to chemical induced synthetic colours which sometimes harm the skin and eyes of people. It is high time we go back to our natural colours and play a safe and wonderful Holi.

The story of Navaratri for children

  

We are once again in the midst of our favorite festival Navaratri. But children, do you know the story behind this festival and why we celebrate it with so much fervor?

Once upon a time there was a demon or Asura called Mahishasur.  He had the face of a buffalo with two pointed and sharp horns and a human body.  Mahishasur prayed to Lord Brahma for many, many years, doing strict penance.

Lord Brahma appeared before him and said, “Hey Mahishasur! I am pleased with your devotion and prayers. I will grant you any boon that you want.”

The Asura was pleased. He said, “I want to be immortal. Grant me the boon that I will never die.”

Brahma shook his head. “I am sorry, Mahishasur. I can’t grant you immortality. It is against the law of nature. Ask for something else.”

Mahishasur thought for a moment. Then he said, “My Lord, grant me a boon that I cannot be killed by any God, Man or animal.”

“Thathastu!” exclaimed Brahma with a smile. The Asura, in his arrogance, had not considered a woman as being strong enough to confront him. 

Mahishasur became proud of his prowess and his invincibility. He started harassing the Sages, Maharishis, and conquered the whole world. He then moved on to heaven and the Devas had to concede defeat because of Lord Brahma’s boon.

The Devas rushed to Lord Brahma for a solution. Brahma said that only a woman would be able to kill Mahishasur. It was then that Lord Brahma, Mahavishnu and Mahadev created a beautiful, divine woman Shakthi called Durga Devi, with ten arms and a lion as a mount. Each of the Devas presented her with their weapon. She had a weapon in each of her ten arms including Mahadev’s Trishul and Mahavishnu’s Chakra, Brahma’s kamandala and Indra’s thunderbolt and presented a magnificent sight sitting majestically on her mount, the lion.

 Attracted by her magnificent beauty, Mahishasur expressed a wish to marry her. Durgadevi was angered by this and started a war with the buffalo faced Asura. The fierce battle lasted for nine days and nine nights. On the tenth day, Durga Mata vanquished Mahishasur  by piercing him with her trident.  Durga Mata is also called Mahishasuramardini and Simhavahini.

Thus the festival of Navaratri, meaning nine nights, celebrates the victory of Shri Durga Mata over the wicked Mahishasur. 

To know about how different States celebrate Navaratri in different ways read https://lalithabalasubramanian.blogspot.com/2019/09/5-states-in-india-celebrate-navaratri_14.html

Jai Mata Di

#Navaratri  #Story_for_children #DurgaMata #Mahishasur #Mahishasuramardini #Trident #Festival