Attukal Pongala Today

Today is that big day – The Attukal Pongala offering as part of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple festival. More than three million women gather here to offer pongala to Attukal to making it the largest gathering of women on earth.

Attukal Pongala is an annual congregation of women to offer Pongala –an offering of boiled rice in earthern pot – during the Malayalam month of Kumbham (February-March). Attukal Pongalahas become a symbol of devotion and dedication to Devi, the Mother goddess and above all a celebration of womanhood. Pongala explores the inner chemistry of the body, mind and soul; recharging the devotee with a sublime happiness and make her spiritually and mentally equipped to face the challenges of the future.

Last year more than 30 lakh women participated in the Attukal Pongala festival. It has also entered the Guinness Book of World Records twice as the largest gathering of women in the world.

The fire will be lit at the ‘pandarayaduppu’ at 10.45 am on Saturday, after which it will be passed on to the other hearths in the area. The offering will be made at 2.30 pm, for which the Trust has hired more than 250 priests who have been assigned specific points in the city. Helicopters would shower flowers from above when the offering ends.

he traffic in a 5-km radius around the temple has not been affected the way it used to in the previous years, Temple Trust officials said. The Traffic Police have been putting in big efforts to see to it, they said. The iron barricades put up on the side of the temple entrance have helped to regulate the crowd to a large extent. The Trust has also set up toilet facilities around the temple for the women devotees.   The KWA and the Corporation have stepped up all measures to provide drinking water for devotees coming to offer Pongala.

The Corporation would also arrange its ambulance services at the spot in case of emergencies. The KSRTC would deploy more buses which would ply to various destinations in the city and rural areas from East Fort. The work on the roads in the festival area has been completed and the Attukal bridge opened to public. A control room has been opened on the temple premises by the Temple Trust and the City Corporation, which will offer any help to the people in need.

for exclusive photos of Attukal Pongala 2011, visit http://attukalpongala.blogspot.com/

– via expressbuzz