Pongal occurs in one of the most beautiful months in Tamil Nadu. This month in the Tamil calendar is called tai. People wake up early in the morning and even before the sunrise they hop out of bed and start singing a verse called the Thirupavai. Every temple and almost every household follows this tradition.

What is special in these Pongal songs is, they not only possess a native charm and the aroma of the soil but also have preserved in them a certain literary and artistic quality, which is at once striking and characteristic.

These Pongal songs deal with such universal themes as Love and War, Wealth and Poverty and they also deal with religious themes and mythological episodes. They center round famous chieftains, leaders and legends associated with the festival of Pongal . Each village in South India has these songs in hundreds and each temple has its own traditional songs . There are several Pongal songs particular to the area and these songs reflect the individuality of the region and its traditions in worship. Pongal is also associated with the dance and drama that play a very important part and so naturally these songs form the major bulk of this valuable treasure.

The attitudes and aspirations of the common people have drawn their inspiration from a range of great and mighty stories woven into the very mosaic of the community and its every day life! The villagers have imbibed great cultural and literary conventions and have learnt greatly from their thought and mode of expression. Therefore the Pongal songs of Tamil Nadu have combined in them the familiar and the day-to-day incident with the supernatural and the miraculous.

These Pongal songs speak of tyrants whose very tyranny has a strange fascination; of villains and heroes who are stout and courageous. They deal with religious themes and mythological episodes; they center round famous chieftains, warriors, social leaders and revolutionaries too. When heroes are assassinated these stories bring them back to life and end on a happy note singing their praise and claiming 'Satyameva Jayathe' or 'Vaimaiye Vellum'.

There is a traditional story told about Kamban, how he was carried away by the charm of a song 'Etra pattu' that he heard when he was passing through a chain of paddy fields in a village in Thanjavoor district. This particular Pongal song is addressed to the dewdrop that sleeps on the bamboo leaves; it extols the rising sun that draws the drop by a deep absorbing kiss.

An ancient proverb "Etra pattukku edir pattu illai" gives 'Etra pattu' a unique position; 'no other son g can vie with it', it says.

Similar is the Pongal song of the village poet, Villu Pulavar, who uses a peculiar musical bow accompanied by a band of singers who provide 'pinpattu' or vocal accompaniment, supported by a few percussion instruments, most prominent of them being a pot specially made of mud like the Ghatam. One of the participants has a small instrument similar to a bat used in Table Tennis and plays with it on the mouth of the pot keeping time and providing accompaniment like the Mridangam or the Tabla. The main singer narrates tales in ballads composed in praise of the presiding deity. These festivals are held mostly during the season of the harvest when villagers assemble in a mood of rejoicing on the day of Pongal . Even though most of these ballads are recited from memory, there are occasions when the singer gets into a mood of divine inspiration and unfolds himself in spontaneous poetry in harmony with the accompanying music and the mood of the occasion. Some of these ballads have been preserved and handed down as folk ballads.

There are several Pongal songs , which are popular with the children of our country, handed, to them by our grand mothers. They have the knack and the angle that attract children. Some of them are story poems. Some are humorous songs while some are non-sense rhymes. There are songs , which are linked up with games typical to South India. These belong to children of various age groups and so vary in content and form. Even the words differ in their level depending on the age group. They range from simple rhymes intended for small children and mount up to songs bordering on artistic obscenity in embargoed circulation among girls of marriageable age who always revel in pulling up the newly wedded couple with their attention specially devoted to the blushing groom. There is a song full of humor and mirth on the brother-in-law, 'Athan' or the husband of the elder sister, making fun of him with all the intimacy and resourcefulness of the would-be bride.

Pongal songs in Tamil thus provide a wonderful variety both in content and in form. It has long ballads like Kattabomman Villupattu. Desingu Rajan Kathai, Chinnathambi Kathai and Madurai Veeran and others. They also have occupational songs sung by the agriculturist, the tiller of the soil or the worker in village mill or the band of energetic men who water the fields using the traditional 'Etram'. They also have the sweet songs of the village boatmen with that floating lilt in the rhythm, and have the Pongal songs of the cart men driving the bullocks late in the night or early in the morning when light and darkness inter-twine in sweet harmony, when the bullocks walk as they sleep and the cart men sleep as they drive. These songs spring out from that awareness that is half asleep and half awake.

These Pongal songs , old and yet so full of life are always new and progressively modern. They stem from the proverbial Banyan tree of the human mind that has its roots deep into the past but continually stretches out its fresh green branches from the present to the future. These songs were born several centuries ago; they are being born every generation; they will be born and reborn over and over again!