Makara Sankranti

Introduction

Makara Sankranti – lovingly called the Pedda Panduga, the "big festival" – is the great harvest festival of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It marks the day the Sun enters Makara rasi (Capricorn) and begins its northward journey, Uttarayana. Unlike most festivals, it follows the Sun rather than the Moon, so it falls in mid-January every year, in the Telugu month of Pushya. Fresh harvests fill the granaries, families return to their native villages, and every home celebrates over three days:

• Bhogi – the day before Sankranti
• Makara Sankranti – the main day
• Kanuma – the day after Sankranti, dedicated to cattle

Significance and Legend

According to tradition, the six months of Uttarayana that begin on Makara Sankranti are especially sacred. In the Mahabharata, Bhishma, lying on his bed of arrows, waited for Uttarayana before leaving his body. Sankranti is a day of gratitude – to Surya, the Sun God, who makes the harvest possible; to the ancestors, who are remembered with offerings; and to the cattle that work alongside the farmer. According to tradition, the month-long Dhanurmasam observances also come to a close on Bhogi, when many Vaishnava temples celebrate the Goda Kalyanam – the divine wedding of Goda Devi (Andal) with Lord Ranganatha.

How it is Celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

• Bhogi mantalu: before dawn on Bhogi, families light bonfires in front of their homes and offer old, worn-out things to the flames – a symbol of letting go of the old and welcoming the new.
• Bhogi pallu: in the evening, small children are blessed with a shower of regi pallu (jujube fruits), flowers, sugarcane pieces and coins poured over their heads, to protect them from the evil eye.
• Muggulu and gobbemmalu: throughout the season, courtyards are decorated with large, colourful muggulu (rangoli), often adorned with gobbemmalu – small mounds of cow dung topped with pumpkin flowers. Muggulu competitions are a much-loved part of the festival.
• Haridasulu: in the early mornings, Haridasus go from house to house, a copper akshaya patra on the head and cymbals in hand, singing the names of Hari. Their visit is considered a blessing, and families offer them rice and grains.
• Gangireddulu: performers lead beautifully decorated bulls – the Gangireddulu – from door to door to the music of the sannayi and drum. The bulls bow and nod to the householders, who offer grain, clothes and money.
• Kite flying: the skies fill with colourful kites, especially in Telangana and Hyderabad, where families gather on terraces all day.
• Kanuma: cattle are bathed, their horns painted, and they are decorated with bells and garlands and worshipped. A popular saying holds that on Kanuma "even a crow does not leave home" – so families stay together and avoid travelling on this day.

Rituals and Puja

• Bhogi: an early oil bath after the Bhogi bonfire, and worship at home; in Vaishnava temples, the Goda Kalyanam.
• Makara Sankranti: a holy bath, prayers to Surya with pongali cooked in new vessels from the fresh harvest, and offerings (tarpanam) to the ancestors. Gifts of sesame, pumpkin, rice and clothes (danam) are considered especially meritorious, and new clothes are worn.
• Kanuma: the pasuvula panduga – cattle are worshipped with turmeric, kumkum and garlands, fed pongali, and taken around the village.

Foods and Offerings

• Pongali – rice from the new harvest cooked with milk and jaggery; the central offering to the Sun.
• Ariselu – the signature sweet of Sankranti, made from rice flour and jaggery and topped with sesame seeds.
• Chakkilalu, sakinalu (especially in Telangana), gavvalu, nuvvula undalu (sesame balls) and sunnundalu – prepared in large batches and shared with relatives and neighbours.
• On Kanuma, many families prepare a special festive meal and gather for a family feast.

Temples Known for this Festival

• Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Dwaraka Tirumala – the Kanuma Giri Pradakshina, when devotees walk around the sacred hill on Kanuma day.
• Udupi Sri Krishna Matha – the Mooru Teru (three-chariot festival) on Makara Sankranti, the high point of the Saptotsava, remembering the installation of Sri Krishna by Sri Madhvacharya.
• Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple – the Makaravilakku on Makara Sankranti, when the Thiruvabharanam (sacred ornaments) adorn Lord Ayyappa and lakhs of devotees witness the sacred Makarajyothi at Ponnambalamedu.

The next Bhogi, Sankranti and Kanuma dates are shown in the festival dates above. Sankranti is fixed by the Sun's entry into Makara rasi as per the Telugu panchang, and usually falls on 14 or 15 January.