Attukal Pongala festival gets off to a devotional start in Thiruvananthapuram

Attukal Pongala festival in Thiruvananthapuram attracts thousands of devotees, promoting religious tourism with a unique women-centric celebration.

The Attukal Pongala festival got off to a devotional start in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday (March 13, 2025) morning.

The chief priest, V. Muraleedharan Namboodiri, lit the traditional hearth before the temple as hundreds of rapturous devotees crowded the precincts to observe the customary ritual.

Their loud invocation of the deity’s name became a mighty chorus that seemed to drown out the cacophony of clashing cymbals, the peal of trumpets, the beat of drums and the bursting of crackers broadcasting the moment considered auspicious by Attukal devotees.

Simultaneously, thousands of women devotees lit the small hearths they had set up on roadsides to cook rice mixed with jaggery as an offering for the temple deity. Smoke from the hearths swamped the festival area, which spans 30 municipal wards in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limits. The heat and smoke seemed not to douse the devotees’ enthusiasm. 

Tourism Minister Muhammad Riyaz told reporters at the venue that Pongala was an important event in the State’s religious calendar. The significant turnout of women gave the festival a unique nature, perhaps even globally. He said Pongala was a driver for Kerala’s religious tourism initiative. Mr. Riyaz noted the women’s festival was a magnet for foreign and domestic tourists. 

City Mayor Arya Rajendran said the Corporation has incrementally introduced a green protocol to prevent plastic littering. She told reporters at the festival venue that women devotees increasingly used steel plates and glasses instead of plastic plates and cups. Registered volunteers providing nourishment and beverages to devotees have also adopted the Corporation’s green protocol. She said the Corporation would collect bricks left behind by the devotees and use them for the government’s free housing schemes. An army of Municipal workers would sweep the city of festival debris, and firefighters would hose down the roads. 

A large number of police, Fire and Rescue Department personnel and National Service Scheme volunteers policed the festival area.