Women flocked to the State capital in their tens of thousands on Wednesday for the Attukal Pongala, the ritualistic offering made annually to the presiding deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple. With ululations and prayers, chanted loudly and silently, with folded hands and bowed hands, they keep their annual tryst with the festival.
The mammoth event had entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2009 for being the largest gathering of women. The offering - a sweet pudding made from rice, jaggery, coconut gratings, banana and ghee - was prepared in earthen and metal pots on makeshift brick stoves. Devotees crowded the temple grounds - the epicentre of the ritual - and lined city roads within a ten-km radius, braving the blazing mid-day sun and the intense, stinging smoke from the fires.
Spots booked
With bricks, ropes and chalk markings, devotees had ‘booked’ their roadside cooking spots days in advance. By Tuesday, women from outside the district had started arriving in large numbers.
Many stayed with friends and relatives, while others spent the night on the footpaths, accepting food and water from voluntary organisations.
Early Wednesday morning, they queued up at the Attukal temple to offer prayers to the deity - popularly called Attukal Amma - before preparing the Pongala offering.
At 10.15 a.m. the ‘Pandara Aduppu’ was lit after which the flame was briskly passed down to the stoves of the devotees. In a short while, Attukal and other main festival areas - Fort, Thampanoor and Statue included - were engulfed in smoke rising from the cooking pots.
The ritual concluded at 2.15 p.m. with the sanctification of the ‘Pandara Aduppu.’
Soon after, 250 junior priests toured the city sprinkling the water on the devotees’ hearths.
The ‘Chooralkuthu’ ritual was scheduled to be held later in the evening. This year’s festivities will conclude with the ‘Kappu Azhippu’ and ‘Kuruthi Tharpanam’ ceremonies on Thursday.
Elaborate arrangements
Government departments had made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the festival. The police deployed 3,700 personnel, including women officers. CCTV cameras, drones and patrol units were used extensively as part of the security measures.
