The Pongal festival is mentioned in an inscription in the Viraraghava temple dedicated to Vishnu (Thiruvallur, Chennai). Credited to the Chola king Kulottunga I (1070-1122 CE), the inscription describes a grant of land to the temple for celebrating the annual Pongal festivities.Similarly, the 9th-century Shiva bhakti text Tiruvembavai by Manikkavachakar vividly mentions the festival.
Pongal dish made from rice in milk, with cane or white sugar.
The festival’s most significant practice is the preparation of the traditional “pongal” dish. It utilizes freshly harvested rice, and is prepared by boiling it in milk and raw cane sugar (jaggery). Sometimes additional ingredients are added to the sweet dish, such as: cardamom, raisins, Green gram (split), and cashew nuts. Other ingredients include coconut and ghee (clarified butter from cow milk). Along with the sweet version of the Pongal dish, some prepare other versions such as salty and savoury (venpongal). In some communities, women take their “cooking pots to the town center, or the main square, or near a temple of their choice or simply in front of their own home” and cook together as a social event, states GutiĆ©rrez.The cooking is done in sunlight, usually in a porch or courtyard, as the dish is dedicated to the Sun god, Surya. Relatives and friends are invited, and the standard greeting on the Pongal day typically is, “has the rice boiled”?
The cooking is done in a clay pot that is often garlanded with leaves or flowers, sometimes tied with a piece of turmeric root or marked with pattern artwork called kolam. It is either cooked at home, or in community gatherings such as in temples or village open spaces. It is the ritual dish, along with many other courses prepared from seasonal foods for all present. It is traditionally offered to the gods and goddesses first, followed sometimes by cows, then to friends and family gathered. Temples and communities organize free kitchen prepared by volunteers to all those who gather. According to Andre Bateille, this tradition is a means to renew social bonds. Portions of the sweet pongal dish (sakkara pongal) are distributed as the prasadam in Hindu temples.