Legends of Pongal

January 15, 2019 Incredible India Valli Sarvani No comments

Now, Indians are celebrating the Pongal festival with great joy. Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated as thanksgiving.

There are certain legends associated with Pongal.

Mainly two legends are attached to the celebrations of Pongal.

They are, the legend of Mount Govardhan and the legend of Nandi.

Mount Govardhan: Bhogi Pongal, the first day of the festival is linked to the legend of Mount Govardhan.

People used to worship Lord Indra in the ancient days. Indra, the God of clouds and rains was the king of the deities.

Indra in the course of time became proud and arrogant due to the honor he received from the deities.

He began to think of himself as the most powerful of all. Then, Lord Krishna wanted to teach him a lesson.

He was a child at that time. All the friends of Krishna began to worship Mount Govardhan instead of Lord Indra on his advice.

This made Indra angry and he sent the clouds for heavy rains with non-stop thunder and lightning to flood the land.

Then, Lord Krishna lifted the Mountain with his little finger to protect his friends and cattle, and all humans as well.

The rains continued for three days and Lord Krishna stood in the same position by holding the mountain with his little finger. Indra came to know the power of Lord Krishna and begged for his pardon. Since then, the Bhogi celebrations started.

Nandi (the bull): This legend is related to the third day i.e. Mattu Pongal. As per the legend, Lord Shiva asked his bull Nandi to deliver a message to the people on the Earth to have an oil massage and bath daily and to eat food once a moth.

But, Nandi conveyed the message mistakenly to have an oil massage and bath once a month and to eat food daily.

Then, Lord Shiva cursed Nandi to live on the Earth forever to help people plough the fields. Since then, the celebrations of cattle had started.

Image Credit:- “Happy Pongal Wishes” by Nithi Anand is licensed under CC BY 2.0.