Single largest gathering of women at Kerala festival

Thiruvananthapuram - It's been an all-women's affair in this Kerala capital since the wee hours of Wednesday for the "Attukal Pongala" festival when boiled rice in earthern pots is offered to the goddess.

"Attukal Pongala", is celebrated annually at the renowned Attukal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram and is the largest gathering of women in the world irrespective of caste, creed or religion.

According to the organisers, this year more than 3.5 million women are taking part to cook the offering as part of the festival.

The event happens on the penultimate day of the 10-day-long Attukal Pongala festival, which is often referred to as the women's equivalent of the Sabarimala pilgrimage.

The offering is prepared using rice, jaggery and coconut, that gets cooked in three to four hours time. Various Brahmin priests then spray the sacred water from the temple on the cooked rice, after which the women pack their offerings and begin their return journey around 2.30 p.m.

"This is my 24th year that I am here and this time my granddaughter is also taking part along with my daughter. I am really excited because three generations from my family are here for the first time. The Attukal Devi is so powerful and believe me, just take part in this event with full faith in Devi, and whatever your needs are, it would take place," said Sreekumari Amma, a 62-year-old housewife sitting on the main road near the State Secretariat.

According to the legend, Kannaki (parvathi) destroyed Madurai in Tamil Nadu after the king wrongfully imposed the death penalty on her husband.

Kannaki then travelled to Kerala, where she rested at Attukal, and women here are said to have cooked pongala to appease her.

Unlike in the previous years, the only change this time was the security arrangements in the famed Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple, which was named as the richest temple in the world -- the police kept out women to set up kilns in and around the temple.

"Every time I sit near the temple because if it is done then we get blessings from not just the Devi, but also from the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. This time we are told due to security reasons, the areas near the richest temple is out of bounds," said Devaki.

More than 15 sq km leading from the Attukal temple located in the heart of the city, was taken over to cook the pongala.

On this day, women who take part in this festival dress up in new attires and arrive with pots and raw materials needed for cooking the offering.

Wednesday's festivities began around 10.15 a.m., when the chief priest lit the pot from the fire brought from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

The fire was then passed on to all the kilns set up on either side of the roads.

Watching the lighting of the kiln inside the temple was State Devasom Minister V.S. Sivakumar, Lok sabha member Sashi Tharoor, Thiruvananthapuram Mayor K. Chandrika and senior BJP leader O. Rajagopal.

Women devotees from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and various parts of the state arrive here to take part in the festival.

Elaborate arrangements were made by the railways, of running a special train and attaching additional coaches on several trains for the devotees arriving from both Tamil Nadu and northern Kerala.

The state owned transport department were runnning special women's services by carrying them free of cost.

The state government since yesterday afternoon declared a holiday for all government offices and educational institutions in the city.