ATTUKAL PONGALA

Submitted by sreegiri on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 14:57
One of the most important festivals of Kerala is the Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum . It is the annual festival of Attukal Bhagavathy temple also known as the Sabarimala of women. The temple, where the Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum takes place is located at a distance of 2 kilometers from the city of Trivandrum. This is one such festival of Trivandrum where only women are allowed to take part. Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum is observed for 9 consecutive days during the months of February and March. The annual celebration of Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum is observed on Bharani day in Kumbhom. Pongala is the main offering of Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum. The offering is a type of payasam (sweet Indian dessert), and is offered at the Bhagavathy temples. The payasam tastes delicious, which is one of the main delicacies of this festival, cooked with jaggery, coconut kernel, rice, and plantain fruits. With Thottampattu, which is a song about Bhagavathy, the Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum begins. This song is chanted for 9 days throughout the festivities. On the concluding day of the Attukal Pongala Festival in Trivandrum all the women of the city arrive at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple with their cooking ingredients and ponkala pots. Cooking starts early in the morning and is suppose to get over by noon. The chief priest, known as melsanthi, goes around the temple with the Devi's sword, showering flowers and sprinkling holy water over the preparation. The idol of the Devi is then carried to Manacaud Sastha Temple in a huge procession. The procession includes caparisoned elephants, decorated thalis, vehicles known as vahanam, and several percussion accompaniments like nagaswaram, band, chenda, and neyyandi melam. The procession would return the next morning. With numerous Festivals and Events in Trivandrum round the year, offers you to experience the traditional cultures of Trivandrum.
jayamohan
Sreegiri, though I've not participated in person, I've been watching the live telecast of this big cultural event for the past few years. Chinna Kuyil Chitra was blessed with a baby after she participated in this event. It is thrilling to see lakhs of people assembling around the roads of the temple and cook pongal using only coconut leaves as fuel. Thanks for sharing the details.
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 22:20 Permalink
Sumathi.v
Nice to read about the festival which is just happening in your neighbouring state.thank u for sharing this info
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 01:44 Permalink
rajamma_2

Yes Sreegiri, we have seen this in T.V. you have given a nice details about it. The name of the place Trivandrum is officially changed to Thiruvananthapuram no?(Thiru+Ananthan+Puram) rajamma
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 05:44 Permalink
sreegiri
Thank you for your response. Yes rajamma_2 the name has changed as Thiruvananthapuram. I also participated in the Pongala 2or3 times. In this year it is on 28th ,ie tomorrow.
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 07:04 Permalink
Lata
Interesting to read. Thank you so much. I visited Trivandrum a couple of months ago during our visit to India, and spent a day. We visited the Padmanabha temple in the morning, and then took a ride on the backwaters from noon to evening. The experience was great.
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 11:08 Permalink
jkmrao

Here is another nice picture from the Hindu - http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article123667.ece Regards! - mOhana
Sun, 02/28/2010 - 03:48 Permalink
alameluranganath
It was celebrated yesterday and i too put pongala for devi. You know it has come in the guinness book of world records for a festival were this much number of women participating to put pongala for attukal amma. Next year the temple people have told that they will keep discovery channel people to count the number of ladies who participate in the function. Its a very very huge and lots of people from different places come and put their pongala
Mon, 03/01/2010 - 01:32 Permalink
sreegiri
Nice to hear that you also put pongala. You are lucky. but I haven't.God bless you.
Mon, 03/01/2010 - 07:51 Permalink