Ratha saptami festival details muggulu

Ratha sapthami is similar to Sankranti when we worship the Sun God.  It is also similar to Sankranti because it commemorates the start of Uttarayana ( Uttar means north and ayana - direction ) . 

 From mythology we infer that Sun rides his chariot  , half a year south of the equator and half a year north of the equator. 

 North of the equator is called Uttarayana and South of the equator is called Dakshiyana . 

 So the change of direction of Sun from Dakshinayana ( Dakshina means south ) to Uttarayana or in other words the movement of the Sun to the north of the equator is celebrated as Ratha Saptami. 
  
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The photo shows the arrangement for the festival.  A clean wooden plank is taken , and a ratham or chariot like rangoli or muggu is drawn on the plank with kaavi border.  A grid made with lines is drawn on the bottom right of the chariot rangoli.  Here we place rice, toor dhal , chana dhal , lima beans ( mochai ) , Indian jujube ( Ezhandha pazham ) etc are placed .  A photo of Sun God that is available in many shops is placed on a small wooden plank as shown.  It is a good practice to draw a rangoli also on the small plank ( any rangoli with borders for the plank ) and then place the picture on the plank.  Two diyas are lighted and kept at the base of the ratham rangoli.  It is tradition to draw the chariot of Sun God with one wheel only .  
The reason attributed is that since takes three hundred and sixty five days to move around the earth , it moves relatively slowly when compared with faster planets in the solar system.  So to show that is moves pretty slowly one wheel is shown.  Also it may be noted that when viewed from the side only one wheel of the chariot will be visible probably this is a more plausible  explanation for drawing one wheel  in a Rathapsathami rangoli. 

 We would have observed in the television serials on the epics Ramayana and  Mahabharata that a chariot is shown with two wheels at the centre and the front end of the chariot supported by the horses that draw it .
So the ratham muggu or rangoli is invariably drawn with one wheel only.

The offerings include betel leaves , areca nut , bananas , fruits like pomegranate, apple etc.

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Ratham saptami rangoli or muggulu

Naivedyam or Prasadam
he naivdeyam is Sweet Pongal or Sakkarai Pongal.  We prepare with a traditional method of cooking using cast iron stove and coke as shown in the image below.    We use a traditional old brass vessel for making the Pongal.    We apply turmeric powder and kumkum to the vessel in which Pongal is cooked

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  • The ingredients are one part raw rice , quarter part moong dhal ,two and half parts of jaggery are taken
  • Dry roast the moong dhal separately in another vessel
  • Heat the vessel in the cast iron stove as shown in the image
  • Add milk and boil it
  • When it boils , add rice and moong dhal 
  • When both are cooked completely, add jaggery and stir well
  • Add nutmeg powder or cardamom powder
  • Remove the Pongal from the stove 
  • Fry cashew nuts , raisins in ghee and add to Sakkarai Pongal
  • Naivedyam for Ratha Sapthami is ready to be offered to Sun God 
This video shows how to celebrate the festival and is in Tamil 

To learn  the how to celebrate the festival in Tamil gRatha saptami in Tamil  

To see the same video in Telugu go to this link Ratha Sapthami in Telugu 

The following images give a simple idea for chariot rangoli using spiral designs - a without chukki ratha rangoli

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Most of my free hand rangoli designs are created spontaneously and there may be changes as I draw , obviously.   This chariot kolam that I have shown above through pictures is one such muggu.

When I shared it as a video on YouTube I was pleasantly surprised when it went viral with more than a million views. I received interesting comments as feedback .  I share some of them verbatim.  

" I really say this from my bottom of my heart keep it up and make us proud these words are my crown to you mam God bless you and also your family for this wonderful service. let your fingers play the magic always .thank you." .

"It is really a good one. Very easy to do with out any dots but looks so gorgeous and beautiful"

"A lovely divinely kolam"

 Such wonderful  comments make me happy  and motivate me.  Having said that  we should also be prepared to receive constructive criticism .

This is the latest ratham muggu , I have added to this post.  The more we decorate a kolam more beautiful it is. 
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