Thousands of women offer pongala at Attukal Bhagavathy temple in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 3 (PTI) Thousands of women from across Kerala and outside the state offered 'pongala' to the presiding deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy temple here on Tuesday, braving the hot weather and turning the state capital into a huge 'yagyashala'.

Women of various ages and wearing caps or white shawls over their heads, were ready since last night with their makeshift brick stoves along the roads for several kms in the heart of the city.

The rituals began around 9.45 am when the chief priest lit the main stove (Pandara Aduppu) near the shrine, signaling the start of the annual event.

As the drum beats and music signalled the lighting of the main stove near the shrine, the women, waiting on the roadsides and specifically designated areas for the ritual, lit their brick stoves and began preparing the 'pongala'.

The 'pongala' is cooked using rice, jaggery, and scraped coconut in fresh earthen or metal pots.

In the afternoon, around 2.15 pm, the offerings were blessed by the priests, following which the devotees packed up their utensils and the dishes they prepared and returned to their homes.

Immediately after the devotees left, sanitation workers deployed by the Thiruvananthapuram corporation began cleaning away the waste material and bricks left behind.

State General Education and Labour Minister V Sivankutty was seen supervising the clean-up operations.

In the morning, AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunshi, also participated in the ritual, the first time for her.

"This a very well-known festival. People all around the world know about it. It is a divine thing with women sitting together and making their offerings. I am making 'payasam'," she told a TV channel.

Union Minister of State for Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shobha Karandlaje, also participated in the festival.

LDF ministers Sivankutty, G R Anil and V N Vasavan, Congress MLA M Vincent, grand old party leader K Muraleedharan, BJP leader and former Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Thiruvananthapuram corporation Mayor V V Rajesh were among the political leaders present at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple to witness the ceremony.

Speaking to media, Vasavan said arrangements were made expecting a larger turnout than in previous years and everything worked out as planned.

"There will be no hassles in the return journey of the devotees. Steps have been taken to provide food, water and other facilities to ensure a smooth pilgrimage for the devotees," the minister said.

Chandrasekhar said he was proud and happy to see the festival's size and scale.

"This is Keralam, God's own country. We respect all religions. We all should celebrate all festivals, be it Attukal Pongala or Christmas, together irrespective of religion, that is our view," he told a channel.

Preparing 'pongala' is considered an auspicious all-women ritual as part of the annual festival of the Attukal temple here, popularly known as the "Women's Sabarimala." Extensive arrangements were made by the authorities to provide food, water and medical aid to the devotees.

The police, fire department and Railways had put in place arrangements, including restrictions on vehicular movement and parking, to ensure the festival is celebrated without any mishap or inconvenience to the general public and devotees can return home easily.

The pongala festival marks the finale of the 10-day ritual at the shrine.

The festival begins with the "Kappukettu ceremony," featuring the musical rendition of the Goddess's story (Kannaki Charitam) by authorised families invoking the presence of Kodungallur Bhagavathy and the slaying of the Pandiyan King.

The nine-day recitation culminates in a dramatic moment marked by temple drums and devotees' chants, leading to the lighting of stoves for the Pongala offering, symbolising the triumph of good over evil.

The ritual had made it to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2009 for being the largest religious gathering of women on a single day when 2.5 million took part in it.

As per local legend, the annual festival commemorates the hospitality accorded by women in the locality to Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic 'Silappadhikaram', after she destroyed Madurai city to avenge the execution of her husband Kovalan, for wrongly branding him as "thief". PTI HMP ROH