As the villages tell it at Pongal
South India · Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra · 3 min read
In the first days of the world, people on earth did not know how to live. They ate whenever they found food and they never washed, and Shiva, looking down from Kailasa, thought they could do better.
He called his bull. Nandi was white and broad and very loyal, and in the south he is called Basava.
"Go down to the earth," Shiva said, "and give the people a message from me. Tell them to rub themselves with oil and bathe every day, and to eat only once a month."
Nandi nodded his great head and set off down the mountain.
It was a long way down. The grass on the lower slopes was very green, and Nandi stopped once or twice to taste it. By the time he came to the first village he had the words in his head, but not quite in the right order.
The people came out to look at him. They had never seen such a fine bull.
Nandi drew himself up. "I have come from Shiva with a message," he said in his deep voice. "He says that you are to bathe with oil once a month, and eat every day."
The people looked at each other, and then they cheered. They liked this message very much. They went home and cooked a meal at once.
Nandi went back up the mountain feeling pleased with himself.
"Well?" said Shiva. "What did you tell them?"
"What you told me," said Nandi. "Oil bath once a month. Food every day."
Shiva put his head in his hands.
"Do you know what you have done?" he said. "The earth cannot feed all those people every day. They will have to dig and plant and harvest from morning to night, and there still will not be enough. There will be hunger on the earth because of you."
Nandi hung his head. He had not thought of that.
"You made the mistake," said Shiva, "so you will help them mend it. Go back down to the earth and stay there. Pull their ploughs. Help them grow the grain they need. From now on you will live in the fields with them."
So Nandi went back down the mountain for good. He found the people struggling with their digging sticks in the hard ground, and he put his neck under the yoke and pulled. The furrows went straight and deep, and the grain came up.
His sons and their sons did the same, and the bullock has worked in the fields of India ever since.
The farmers did not forget whose fault it was, but they did not forget who had helped them either.
So on the third day of Pongal, Mattu Pongal, the farmers of Tamil Nadu give their cattle a holiday. The cows and bullocks are washed in the river, their horns are painted blue and red and tipped with brass, and garlands of flowers and bells are hung round their necks. They are fed sweet pongal, bananas and sugar cane, the first of the new rice. In the evening they are taken round the village, and in some villages young men test their courage against the bulls in jallikattu. In Andhra the same day is Kanuma. In Karnataka the cattle are walked over a fire.