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Kerala’s Attukal Pongala festival draws massive crowds
The devotees offered the ‘pongala’ (a type of rice pudding) cooked in earthen pots on brick hearths to the Attukal goddess as part of the temple festival in the state capital
Lakhs of women arrived in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, on Sunday to observe ‘Attukal Pongala’, people familiar with the development said. At least 3,000 police personnel were deployed in different parts of the city to oversee traffic and other arrangements, said officials familiar with the matter.
The devotees offered the ‘pongala’ (a type of rice pudding) cooked in earthen pots on brick hearths to the Attukal goddess as part of the temple festival in the state capital.
Dubbed as one of the biggest gatherings of women in the world, the ‘Attukal Pongala’ is attended by women from different parts of Kerala and neighbouring states such as Tamil Nadu. The goddess at the centuries-old Attukal Devi temple is worshipped by the devotees in the form of ‘Bhadrakali’ or ‘Kannaki’ to whom the ‘pongal’ offering is made on the ninth day of the 10-day festival at the temple, said the people.
Women, clad in traditional ‘veshti mundu,’ began setting up hearths in various parts of the city before dawn, with the Indian Railways and the state-run KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation) providing special services for their convenience, said the officials familiar with the mater. Despite early showers, the day brightened up, and festivities commenced around 10:30 am, with the chief priest transferring the sacred fire from the sanctum sanctorum to the ‘Pandara Aduppu’ (hearth within the temple), said the people.
The ‘pongala payasam,’ a rice pudding made with red rice, jaggery, banana, ghee, and coconut, boiled over in earthen pots as part of the ritual. The event concluded around 2:30 pm with the offering of ‘pongala payasam’ to the goddess, followed by a similar offering by the women, said one of the people quoted above.
“At least 3,000 police personnel were deployed across the city to oversee traffic and other arrangements,” said an official. Around 500 buses operated services both within and outside the city, said the official. The Suchitwa Mission, the state government’s sanitation department, imposed green protocols for the event and asked the public to avoid using plastic. The Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, like every year, has been engaged in clearing the waste, especially the brick kilns, from the roads after the event.
