The festival is also celebrated with much pomp in the southern parts of India.
In Tamil Nadu, Sankranti is known as Pongal, which takes its name from the surging of rice boiled in a pot of milk. Rice and pulses, cooked together in ghee and milk, are offered to the family deity after the ritual worship.
In Andhra Pradesh, this harvest festival is called Pedda Panduga, meaning big festival. The whole event lasts for four days -- the first day Bhogi; the second day, Sankranti; the third day, Kanuma; and the fourth day, Mukkanuma.
Image: An Indian women applies coloured powder to her Rangoli on the eve of the Pongal festival.
Photographs: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Kolkata's magnificent Durgas
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