The harvest festival is celebrated all over the world in different forms with different names. The festival of harvest has its origin in prehistoric period of the neolithic (new stone age) period. Some of the prehistoric paintings portray a heap of crop with men and women dancing around it.

In ancient Assyria it was celebrated on a grand scale almost four thousand years ago. The entire crop belonged to the god / king and hence on an appointed day during the festival every farmer would bring his crops in cartloads and make a heap. The details of the owners and the quantity of the crop were written on clay tablets to identify each farmer. The king would go round these heaps and judging the best, would give a suitable reward to its owner. Then a part of the crop would go to the temple and another part would go to the Palace where it was stored and distributed to people in times of need. Thus it was a collective festival in ancient Assyria.

A tragic incident occurred in Assyria in about 2,000 BC. A poor widow and her son had brought their crop to the festival. She agreed to give a part to the temple but not to the Palace. The king was furious and asked the soldiers to cut off her head and place it on the heap. At this stage, the priest intervened and told the king, “Sir, this is the only woman who has brought the entire produce without leaving a grain in her house. But the others including the rich farmers and nobles have secretly hidden some parts and brought only the remaining portion to this place”.

Most of them accepted their cheating and requested for mercy. The king felt happy at the sincerity of this poor woman and appointed her son as the collector of grains forthwith, for the harvest festival.

In our own country, the harvest festival assumes different forms. It is mostly a dance festival (suggi kunita) and is celebrated throughout the night in villages. The drum or the percussion instrument occupies an important place in this dance. This is particularly popular among the tribal population also. There are hundreds of suggi folk songs in Kannada and other languages.

This festival has different backgrounds and connotations of religious significance in our country. It is observed here as Uttarayana punyakala, meaning an auspicious time when the sun takes a northern course in his movement. It is also referred to as Makara Sankramana and from that day onwards begins the Uttarayana, as per the Hindu tradition. Normally, it is celebrated on Jan. 13 or 14 each year, though astronomers have a different date for this event. The god of this month is Bhaga (an aspect of Sun) and has eleven thousand rays. Most of our ancient records mention gifts made during this period which is believed to bring additional merit.

In popular parlance, it is also called Sankranthi or Makara Sankranthi. Actually it is the name of god who presides over this function. He is supposed to have four heads and eight hands and looks ferocious. His visit during this period to any area is bad and hence worship is done to appease him. Ancient kings used to perform sacrifices to pack him off to the country of their enemies during this festival. The six months of the Uttarayana are auspicious for the ancestors because of the opening of the door of the heaven. Bhishma is said to have waited lying down on the bed of arrows for the arrival of this auspicious moment as described in Mahabharatha.

The most important aspect of Sankranti is the gift of sesame seeds (ellu) to ward off all evils. Actually it is an ancient crop of India and is frequently mentioned in Vedic literature because it sprouts amazingly quickly in good numbers. Hence the gift of this seed brings quick results. However, it came to be associated with Saturn in later periods and even Brahmins began to refuse this gift unless it is properly compensated by money in the form of Dakshina. As nobody would accept pure ellu, it was mixed with coconut, jaggery, groundnut etc., to make it more attractive and lessen the gravity of nascent sesame. Thus distributing this combination, still called ellu is an important part of Sankranti festival.

Another important aspect of this festival is the preparation of a delicacy called pongal. In fact this is called pongal festival in Tamil - dominated areas. In the ancient period, fresh grown rice, green gram, coconut and ghee were boiled in a pot till it spilled over (pong) and hence it is called pongal. This dish has an antiquity of over 1,000 years as being mentioned in Chola records. Actually, it is called huggi in Kannada and has an antiquity of over 1,000 years. Thus ancient Indians who loved life in all its beauty celebrated this festival, which is really a festival of harvest with significance from astronomy and mythology.

These festivals helped to keep intact the unity in diversity. Thus every festival has a message but unfortunately these messages are slowly forgotten and the celebrations are becoming mechanical. Sankranti reminds us of the ancient message of production and distribution of the same amongst the people in a symbolic manner. However, it is thanks - giving festival to the sun, the giver of life to humanity.

Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy,
Former Head,
Department of Ancient History & Archaeology,
University of Mysore

Courtesy: star of mysore