We thank sun for burning himself to save us. We thank plants sacrificing their life for us. And we thank all the creatures helping us to live in this world for some time.

Pongal is a harvest festival event celebrated by Tamils across the world. It's a celebration of the prosperity associated with the harvest by thanking the Sun, rain, the nature and the other living beings such as farm animals that have helped in the harvest. In villages, new clothes are worn and people owning cows find this festival more important. Pongal is celebrated by the Indian state of Tamil Nadu as well as Tamils in Sri Lanka. The festival takes place January 13 — 15 (on the Gregorian calendar). The festival is celebrated four days from the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi (December — January) to the third day of Thai (January — February).

“Cow is just an animal like a hen or goat... then why should one not kill and eat it?”

Cow is also an animal, but... a cow has many specialities that no other animal (not even human beings) has in this world. This is the reason that Hindus consider cow as ‘mother’ after their own mother, and pray to the cow with respect calling it “go-matha”.

These are some truths about go-matha.

· If a cow eats something poisonous by mistake, and we drink its milk, will we fall ill? To find out, one cow was regularly fed a particular quantity of a poison every day. After 24 hours, its blood, urine, dung and milk were tested in a lab to check where the poison could be found. In this way, the tests were done not for 1 or 2 days, but continuously for 90 days in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi. The researcher did not find any trace of poison in milk, blood, urine or dung of that cow.

Then where did this poison fed for 90 days go? Just like Lord Shiva held poison in his throat, the go-matha hid the entire poison in her throat. This is a special quality that no other animal has.

· This is the only creature that inhales oxygen and also exhales oxygen.

· Cow milk has the quality of countering poison.

· There are diseases that medical science has not yet understood; urine of Go-matha has the power to cure them

· If cow-ghee and rice are cooked together, two powerful gases called ethylene-oxide, propylene-oxide are released. Propylene-oxide is the best gas used for creating artificial rain.

· Cow-urine is the world’s best killer of microbes

· With medicines made using cow dung and cow urine, stomach-related ailments can be cured.

· We can save from radio-waves by plastering the home floors and area outside home with cow-dung

· Cow-dung has the power to destroy the microbes causing cholera

· If 10 grams of cow-ghee is put in fire (yagnya), 1 ton of oxygen is generated.

Wish you a Happy Pongal.

-Tamilan