For Brahmins, purity is maintained by tradi-
tion and occupation and reinforced by vegetari-
anism. In Vedic times Brahmins were avid meat
eaters and even ate beef. As the traditional spe-
cialists in ritual sacrifice, they were entitled to the
leftover meat from each animal offering.
As new ideas of purity began to develop,
Brahmins became the strictest vegetarians, even
eschewing eggs in most regions of India. When
they became the measure of purity, those who
did eat meat were given lower status. Because
of their purity, Brahmins may offer cooked food
to anyone; thus, they are often hired as cooks in
restaurants. Conversely, Brahmins can accept food
from and eat together with only a very limited
group of people, their own subcaste of Brahmins.
Commensality—eating food together—is a sign of
an equal level of purity. People who by tradition
have different levels of purity traditionally would
not eat in the same place or from the same source.
Furthermore, any food that has been eaten by
anyone else is highly polluting, unless that person
is one’s infant child or husband; beef is always
considered the most impure and reviled of foods.
In villages, different castes still draw water from
different wells.
In social contexts feet are considered the most
polluting body part and must never touch some-
one else. However, people do touch the feet of a
mother, father, elder brother, GURU, or god out of
honor, respect, or worship. Any association with
blood or death is considered polluting.
Further reading: G. Morris Carstairs, The Twice-Born
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1967); Brian
K. Smith, Classifying the Universe: The Ancient Indian
Varna System and the Origins of Caste (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1994).
Pongal
Pongal is an important festival in the Tamil region,
celebrated in the Tamil month of Tai (Janu-
ary–February). Technically, the month starts when
the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn. Pongal is a
celebration of the harvest, which in Tamil Nadu
occurs when the rainy season ends in December.
The word Pongal is from the Tamil root pongu,
which means to boil. During the festival, a pot is
filled with rice, ghee, milk, and sugar or jaggery
(palm sugar) and is heated to boiling. The pot
is supposed to boil over to show the abundance
of the harvest. The day before Pongal old imple-
ments and clothing are discarded to be replaced
by new ones. On this day cows and other cattle
are directly worshipped and are allowed to run
free. Bullfights are staged, and young men chase
wild bulls, in a somewhat gentler version of the
running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.Further reading: M. Arunachalam, Festivals of Tamil
Nadu (Tiruchitrambalam: Gandhi Vidyalayam, 1980);
Anita Ganeri, Hindu Festivals throughout the Year
(Mankato, Minn.: Smart Apple Media, 2003).Pongala
Pongala, which means “prosperity,” is a 10-day
festival celebrated at the Attukal Amma Temple
in Tiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in Kerala.
It begins in the month of Kumbham (February–
March). The main festival ritual, the boiling of
rice in a pot, is connected to the Sunday ritual to
the Sun in ancient Dravidian culture, and to the
Tamil New Year celebration of Pongal, which has a
similar name because the basic ritual is the same.
The Pongala ritual has become the largest gather-
ing of women for festival purposes in the world.
A high point of the festival is the recitation
of the song of Kannaki, found in classical form
in the ancient Tamil text Cilappatikaram. In this
version, a boy is sacrificed and Kannaki tears off
a breast to destroy the city of Madurai. On the
ninth day, when the boy is sacrificed and Kannaki
tears off her breast, the Pongala ritual fire is lit
in the temple. All the women who are gathered
simultaneously light their fires to cook rice. The
overflow of the rice pot (or, in the case of BRAH-K 330 Pongal