The Hindu : Front Page : All roads lead to Attukal temple, lakhs offer pongala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

All roads lead to Attukal temple, lakhs offer pongala

Staff Reporter

Over 2,000 police personnel pressed into service

AFLAME WITH DEVOTION: Devotees of Attukal Devi offering pongala in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Thiruvananthapuram: Nearly 10 lakh women offered pongala at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple at Manacaud here on Monday in an atmosphere charged with devotion. Brick hearths for preparing the offering covered a radius of seven km from the temple.

The rituals began around 11.30 a.m. with Tantri Chenas Dinesan Namboodiripad lighting the `pandara aduppu' with a ghee lamp lit from the sanctum sanctorum. After the rituals in the temple were completed by Melsanthi Devdasan Namboodiri, Keezhsanthi Narayanan Namboodiri lit the hearth in front of `thottam pattu' singers at 11.36 a.m. to the accompaniment of panchavadyam and chanting of hymns.

Signal

This was the signal for the devotees, who had come from all over the State and abroad, to start lighting the hearths by passing the fire from one to another. At this time, a kite hovered over the `gopuram' of the temple. The pongala offerings were consecrated by 150 priests, appointed by the temple trust, by sprinkling holy water on them by 3.15 p.m.

The showering of floral petals from aircraft during the consecration of the pongala was missing this time around. Crowds of devotees had started flowing to the temple since Sunday morning. The devotes put up hearths in the large areas around the temple, the compounds of houses, open fields, roads, commercial institutions and even the Government offices in the locality.

The areas colonised by the devotees included Thampanoor, East Fort, Konchiravila, Manacaud, Karamana, Maruthoorkadavu, Valiyasala, Killippalam and Enchakkal. Those who reached the city after daybreak set up hearths on the roadside up to Palayam and Thycaud. Vehicular traffic to the temple was regulated at Ayurveda College Junction.

The police made elaborate traffic and bandobust arrangements for the pongala. Over 2,000 police personnel, including 600 women constables, were pressed into service. In addition, the NCC, Bharat Scouts and volunteers were present in large numbers. Secretary, temple trust, K.P. Ramachandran Nair told The Hindu that the pongala ritual went off smoothly. The AIADMK activists offered pongala in 58 pots on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. Many devotees who fainted were immediately given medical aid at the camps set up by Seva Bharati and the Shiv Sena. Later in the night, the ceremonial procession of the deity escorted by 479 boys offering `kuthiyottam,' `pandaraottam' and girls with `thalapoli' was taken out to the Dharma Sastha Temple at Manacaud. The 10-day festival will conclude with the return of the deity to the temple on Tuesday afternoon.

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