Happy Thai Pongal – 2nd Day and Main Event

On Pongal day the sun God is worshipped. Offerings to the Sun are enclosed in kolam art and devotees look towards the sun and do the arati walking clockwise around the offerings.

The first day of pongal is dedicated to Lord Indra and is called Bhogi Pongal (link.) The second day of the pongal is to honor the Sun god and is simply called Pongal day or Thai Pongal.

This is the main day of the festival and the day when the new harvest is cooked in new earthen pots. Without the sun there is no harvest, so it is to thank the sun god and the nature.

Pongal is very meaningful to South Indians as the season is for all Hindus (link)

What Stove to Prepare the Food?

In ancient times they had clay stoves, from which the Tandoori oven was born. As a child growing up in the Himalayas and later Bihar, I remember we used only clay stoves. Sometimes wood logs were used to create fire and sometimes coal.

There were two types of coal, the coal rock and the coal from wood. The rock coal lasted longer. The food cooked on these tasted extra special. These stoves/ovens looked so fancy to me those days. It was built with a complete counter top, and the cooked food would be placed on the counter next to the stove to keep it warm.

Now imagine cooking the thanksgiving pongal meal on the clay stove. Beautiful kolam art was drawn around the stove and decorated with turmeric paste. Turmeric plants and ginger plants embellished the clay counter.

A modern Indian kitchen preparing for Pongal

Decorated terra-cotta pots, adorned with turmeric and ginger plants along with the rhizomes, perched on the dual stoves rollicked with simmering sweet and savory pongal, bubbling and dribbling. Newly harvested rice and legumes, fresh herbs and spices oh my!The smell that permeated exasperated the hunger. Thus we celebrated pongal.

Pongal is to welcome Dhanyalakshmi into the house. Dhanyalakshmi is the goddess of grains. The food is allowed to overflow as a symbol of abundance of wealth flowing into the house.

The menu of the day is sakarai pongal meaning sweet pongal, ven pongee or savory pongal, plain rice, vadai, sambar, pachidi (salad), Banana kari or podimas, payasam, and kootu or aviyal.