The Hindu : Front Page : Ponkala makes it to Guinness

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Sunday, Oct 15, 2006
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Ponkala makes it to Guinness

To get mention in the category of events attended by more than a million people

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annual Ponkala festival of Attukal Bhagavathi temple here, one of the world's biggest devotional congregations of women, has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The festival, which draws over a million women on a single day in March to perform the Ponkala ritual, is getting mention in the Guinness book in the category of events attended by more than a million people, an official of the temple trust said. "We have already received a letter from the Guinness Book authorities. We are planning a function next week to make a formal announcement," secretary K.P. Ramachandran Nair said.

About 12 lakh women attended the last festival, but the Guinness authorities have gone by the 1997 turnout that touched about 15 lakh, he said.

According to folklore, Attukal Bhagavathi is the divine form of Kannagi, heroine of the Tamil classic Silappadikaram.

The Ponkala festival celebrates the hospitality accorded to Kannagi by women at Attukal when she was on her way to Kodungallur after destroying the ancient city of Madurai to avenge the injustice meted out to her husband Kovilan.

The temple is also known as `women's Sabarimala' as only women are allowed to perform the ritual in the Malayalam month of Kumbbham, which mostly coincides with March in the Western calendar. — PTI

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