Flames of devotion burn bright at Attukal Pongala

The penultimate day of the 10-day Attukal Pongala festival was on Tuesday

It is a day countless women wait for an entire year. A day when red brick makeshift hearths lined the city streets and turned the State capital into a giant kitchen where the choicest offerings were cooked for the Attukal ‘Amma,’ the presiding deity of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple. A day when faith saw even the most frail brave heat, smoke, and hunger to express their devotion and gratitude to the goddess at what is popularly termed the ‘women’s Sabarimala.’

On Tuesday, the penultimate day of the 10-day Attukal Pongala festival, the feverish excitement that had gripped the city for days reached a crescendo with thousands of women offering ‘pongala’ (a rich pudding of rice, jaggery, banana or coconut, mostly cooked in ghee, and a garnish of cashewnuts and maybe cardamom or raisins) to the Attukal Bhagavathy Devi. Other popular offerings included therali appam (steamed rice cakes) and manda puttu (steamed balls of rice powder, green gram, jaggery, and coconut).

Temple tantri Thekkedath Parameswaran Vasudevan Bhattathiripad signalled the start of the festivities by lighting the Pongala hearth inside the temple. He then passed the flame to the chief priest Aneesh Namboodiri for lighting the Pongala hearths at the ‘Thidapally’ of the temple and then handed over to an assistant priest for lighting the ‘Pandara Aduppu.’An announcement and chendamelam signalled to the women devotees that their hearths were ready to be lit with the flame from the Pandara Aduppu.

Soon, earthen pots, often bedecked with paint, sandalwood paste, and flowers, were bubbling away as the devotees offered up fervent prayers to the Attukal Devi.

Once the offerings were ready, the women headed to the temple to pray. Some had tried to offer prayers in the morning but were unable to get through owing to the large crowds.

Devotees offer Pongala by preparing the Pongala offering using rice and jaggery at a public space in East Fort as part of the Attukal Pongala festival, in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN