Makar Sankranti

Encyclopedia

Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan or Maghi or simply Sankranti, also known in Bangladesh as Poush Sankranti, is a festival day in the Hindu calendar, dedicated to the deity Surya (sun). It is observed each year the day Sun enters the Capricorn zodiac which corresponds with the month of January as per the Gregorian calendar. It marks the first day of the sun’s transit into Makara rashi (Capricorn), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.

Makar Sankranti is one of the few ancient Indian festivals that has been observed according to solar cycles, while most festivals are set by the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. Being a festival that celebrates the solar cycle, it almost always falls on the same Gregorian date every year (January 14), except in some years when the date shifts by a day for that year (January 15). As a result, it can fall on different date of the Hindu calendar each year.

The festivities associated with Makar Sankranti are known by various names Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi (preceded by Lohri) in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, popular amongst both the Hindus and Sikhs, Sukarat in central India, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, Ghughuti in Uttarakhand, Makara Sankranti in Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal (also called Poush Sankranti), Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (also called Khichidi Sankranti) or as Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Maghe Sankrat (Nepal), Songkran (Thailand), Thingyan (Myanmar), Mohan Songkran (Cambodia), and Shishur Sankrat (Kashmir).

Makar Sankranti is observed with social festivities such as colorful decorations, rural children going house to house, singing and asking for treats in some areas, melas (fairs), dances, kite flying, bonfires and feasts. The Magha Mela, according to Indologist Diana L. Eck, is mentioned in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Many observers go to sacred rivers or lakes and bathe in a ceremony of thanks to the sun. Many go to sacred rivers or lakes and bathe with thanksgiving to the sun. Every twelve years, the Hindus observe Makar Sankranti with Kumbha Mela – one of the world’s largest mass pilgrimage, with an estimated 40 to 100 million people attending the event. At this event, they say a prayer to the sun and bathe at the Prayaga confluence of the River Ganga and River Yamuna, a tradition attributed to Adi Shankaracharya.

Date

Winter Solstice

Makara Sankranti is set by the solar cycle of the Hindu lunisolar calendar, and is observed on a day which usually falls on 14 January of the Gregorian calendar, but sometimes on 15 January. It signifies the arrival of longer days. Makara Sankranti falls in the Hindu calendar solar month of Makara, and the lunar month of Magha (the festival is also called Magha Sankranti or Magha festival in parts of India). It marks the end of the month with winter solstice for India and the longest night of the year, a month that is called Pausha in the lunar calendar and Dhanu in the solar calendar in the Vikrami system. The festival celebrates the first month with consistently longer days.

There are two different systems to calculate the Makara Sankranti date: nirayana (without adjusting for precession of equinoxes, tropical) and sayana (with adjustment, sidereal). The January 14 date is based on the nirayana system, while the sayana system typically computes to about December 23, per most Siddhanta texts for Hindu calendars. Adjustments to the calendar over the years causes the festival date to occur on January 14 or 15th.

Significance

Every year Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the month of January to mark the winter solstice. This festival is dedicated to the Hindu religious sun god Surya. This significance of Surya is traceable to the Vedic texts, particularly the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred hymn of Hinduism found in its scripture named the Rigveda.

Makara Sankranti is regarded as important for spiritual practices and accordingly, people take a holy dip in rivers, especially Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri. The bathing is believed to result in merit or absolution of past sins. They also pray to the sun and thank for their successes and prosperity. A shared cultural practices found amongst Hindus of various parts of India is making sticky, bound sweets particularly from sesame (til) and a sugar base such as jaggery (gud, gur). This type of sweet is a symbolism for being together in peace and joyfulness, despite the uniqueness and differences between individuals. For most parts of India, this period is a part of early stages of the Rabi crop and agricultural cycle, where crops have been sown and the hard work in the fields is mostly over. The time thus signifies a period of socializing and families enjoying each other’s company, taking care of the cattle, and celebrating around bonfires, in Maharashtra the festival is celebrated by flying kites.

Makara Sankranti is an important pan-Indian solar festival, known by different names though observed on the same date, sometimes for multiple dates around the Makar Sankranti. It is known as Pedda Panduga in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Makara Sankranti in Karnataka and Maharashtra, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Magh Bihu in Assam, Magha Mela in parts of central and north India, as Makar Sankranti in the west, Maghara Valaku in Kerala, and by other names.

Nomenclature and regional names

A night lit up on Makar Sankranti Uttarayana Festival with Kites and Lights.

Makara or Makar Sankranti is celebrated in many parts of the Indian subcontinent with some regional variations. It is known by different names and celebrated with different customs in different Indian states and South Asian countries:

  • Suggi Habba, Makara Sankramana, Makara Sankranti : Karnataka
  • Makar Sankranti, Uttarayan or Ghughuti: Uttarakhand
  • Sankranti, Makara Sankranti, Makara Sankramana, Uttarayana or Sankranti : Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh
  • Makara Sankranti or Makara Mela and Makara Chaula : Odisha
  • Makara Sankranti or Makaravilakku and Makara Jyothi : Kerala
  • Makara Sankranti or Til Sankrant : Bihar
  • Makar Sankranti, Maghi Sankrant, Haldi Kumkum or Sankranti : Maharashtra, Goa, Nepal
  • Hangrai : Tripura
  • Thai Pongal or Uzhavar Thirunal: Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia
  • Uttarayan: Gujarat
  • Maghi: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab
  • Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu: Assam
  • Shishur Saenkraat: Kashmir Valley
  • Sakraat or Khichdi: Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar
  • Poush Sangkranti: West Bengal, Bangladesh
  • Tila Sakrait: Mithila
  • Tirmoori: Pakistan

In most regions of India, Sankranti festivities last for two to four days of which each day is celebrated with distinct names and rituals.

  • Day 1 – Maghi (preceded by Lohri), Bhogi Panduga
  • Day 2 – Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Pedda Panduga, Uttarayana, Magh Bihu
  • Day 3 – Mattu Pongal, Kanuma Panduga
  • Day 4 – Kaanum Pongal, Mukkanuma

What Sankaranti is celebrated in different places as

It is celebrated differently across the Indian subcontinent. Many people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar Prayag and pray to the Sun God (Surya). It is celebrated with pomp in southern parts of India as Sankranti in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka (Pongal in Tamil Nadu), and in Punjab as Maghi.

Kite flying is a tradition of Makar Sankranti in many parts of India.

Many melas or fairs are held on Makar Sankranti the most famous being the Kumbha Mela, held every 12 years at one of four holy locations, namely Haridwar, Prayag (Prayagraj), Ujjain and Nashik. The Magha Mela (or mini-Kumbh Mela held annually at Prayag) and the Gangasagar Mela (held at the head of the Ganges River, where it flows into the Bay of Bengal). Makar Mela in Odisha. Tusu Mela also called as Tusu Porab is celebrated in many parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Poush Mela, held traditionally on the 7th day of Poush,at Shantiniketan, in West Bengal,is unrelated to this festival. Mela Maghi is held in memory of the forty Sikh martyrs (Chalis Mukte) who gave their lives to protect Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhism, every year at Muktsar Sahib in Punjab. Before this tradition, the festival was observed and mentioned by Guru Amar Das, the third Guru of Sikhism.

Karnataka