Women devotees have begun making the ‘pongala’ offering to the presiding deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple here on Sunday morning by lighting tens of thousands of makeshift brick hearths lining city streets, public spaces and temple grounds.
They began cooking the ritual offering — a sweet pudding of rice, jaggery, grated coconut, ghee and banana cooked in earthen pots — after the ‘Pandara Aduppu,’ the main hearth at the Attukal Temple was lit shortly after 10.30 a.m.
A few minutes earlier, temple tantri Thekkedath Kuzhikattu Parameswaran Vasudevan Bhattathiripad passed the flame from the temple’s sanctum sanctorum to Goshala Vishnu Vasudevan Namboothiri, the chief priest. The Pongala hearth in the temple’s Thidapally was lit first. The flame was then taken to the ‘Valiyathidappally,’ and a few minutes later, the ‘Pandara Aduppu’ in front of the temple was lit to loud chants of ‘Amme Saranam, Devi Saranam.’
‘A wonderful experience’
The annual event dubbed the ‘Women’s Sabarimala’, is witnessing a huge turnout this year with devotees arriving from different parts of Kerala and even other States. Simple Krishnan, a school teacher from Gurgaon who teaches kindergarten students at the Delhi Public School-45 says it’s a wonderful experience. Originally from Haryana, she first heard about this ritual from her classmate Sabitha, a Kochi girl, during their school days in Delhi.
“She used to tell me that there was this big pooja,” she said. Later, she got to know more about it from her husband Deepak Krishnan, a Keralite currently working as a senior manager in Ahmedabad. Ms. Krishnan is making the Pongala offering at her husband’s brother’s home near the Attukal temple. At her first experience of this ritual, her father C. P. Karbanda is also accompanying her. “I was looking at the TV yesterday and saw the crowds. But it’s a wonderful experience,” she said.
Overcast skies and a mild drizzle on Sunday morning had given some anxious moments to the devotees, but now the sky has cleared.
The Attukal Pongala falls on the ninth day of the annual ten-day festival at the temple.
The Pongala festival is dedicated to Kannaki, the heroine of the Chilappatikaram. Lore goes that after the destruction of Madurai, Kannaki passed through Attukal on her way to Kodungalloor.
The police and other government agencies including the Health and Water Resources Departments have made extensive arrangements for the smooth conduct of the annual festival. As part of the security arrangements, 3,500 police personnel have been deployed in addition to special squads. The Health Department has arranged heat clinics to assist devotees affected by the sweltering day temperatures.
The sanctification ceremony, signalling the end of thePongala ritual, will be held at 2.30 p.m. today. The Chooralkuthu ritual, will be held in the evening.
The 2024 edition of the ten-day festival will come to a close with the ‘Kaapazhipu’ ritual on Monday night and the ‘Kuruthitharpanam’ in the early hours of Tuesday.
