Wednesday January 14, 2009
Pongal is a big festival, celebrated every year in mid January - mostly in the south of India and especially in Tamil Nadu - to mark the harvest of crops and a special thanksgiving to God, the sun, the earth and the cattle.
Pongal in the state of Tamil Nadu is celebrated during the same time as 'Bhogali Bihu' in the North Eastern State of Assam, Lohri in Punjab, 'Bhogi' in Andhra Pradesh and 'Makar Sankranti' in the rest of the country, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal.
Monday January 12, 2009
January 14 is by far the best date in the festival calendar of Gujarat in western India. It's the
festival of Uttarayan, a.k.a. 'Makar Sankranti', when people fly kites on colored strings coated with a paste of rice and ground glass called 'manja' that enables fliers to compete by cutting and catching each other's kites. Don't miss this
colorful photo gallery featuring glimpses of life around the kite festival of Gujarat.
Photo © Meena Kadri
Saturday January 10, 2009
Often Western onlookers of the Hindu tradition find themselves distracted by the Hindu caste-system of social hierarchy. Did Hindus benefit from their obedience to such social order? Dr. Shaheen Emmanuel Lakhan delves deep into this controversial topic.
Wednesday January 7, 2009
The earth, farthest from the sun at this point of time, starts its journey towards the sun, thus ending the coldest month of the year,
Paush, and announcing the start of the month of Magh and the auspicious period of
Uttarayan. In January, the fields come up with the promise of a golden harvest, and farmers celebrate
Lohri during this rest period before the cutting and gathering of crops.
