Women flock to Attukal Pongala fest in Kerala

trivandrum — Lakhs of women took part in the famed Attukal Pongala festival in Kerala on Friday.

The event was listed in the Guinness World Records in 2009 for being the largest religious gathering of women on a single day. It marks the culmination of the 10-day-long annual festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple in the city.

A record of 2.5 million women took part in the festival on a single day in 2009.

The temple, located in the heart of the city, is dedicated to Attukal Bhagavathi, believed to be an incarnation of Kannaki, the central character of the Tamil epic ‘Silappathikaaram’.

The Pongala event takes place on the penultimate day of the 10-daylongw Attukal Pongala festival.

The most prestigious seat for cooking is in the temple compound where devotees cook the offering for the deity on makeshift brick stoves.

According to the temple authorities, this year has been a record gathering and is estimated to run into several lakhs as women were found cooking in more than a 13 square kilometre radius of the temple.

The rituals began around 10.15am on Friday when the chief priest of the Attukal Bhagavathi Temple lit the makeshift stove with fire brought from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

The fire was then passed on to women took part in the attukal Pongala on a single day in 2009 the stoves of the women who had lined up on either side of the roads to cook their offering using rice, jaggery and coconut.

This year, women from neighbouring states also took part in the festival. Even Saraswathy Sathasivam, wife of Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam, participated in the festival. Numerous film personalites and civil society members were also present.

“This is the fourth time I am taking part in this event and next year also I will come,” said Sarawathy who was busy preparing the ‘divine’ offering.

According to the traditions of this event, the women who take part in the festival have to be dressed in new clothes and every item used for cooking the ‘divine’ pongala has to be brand new. —