The Hindu : National : Lakhs of women offer ‘Pongala’ at Attukal temple

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Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009
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Lakhs of women offer ‘Pongala’ at Attukal temple

Special Correspondent

— Photo: S. Gopakumar

Miss World 2008 first runner-up Parvathy Omanakuttan offering ‘pongala’ at Attukal Bhagawathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

Thiruvananthapuram: In an atmosphere charged with religious fervour, lakhs of women, cutting across caste and class barriers, offered ‘Pongala’ to the deity at Attukal Bhagawathy Temple here on Tuesday. The heavy influx of devotees turned the city into a teeming mass of humanity.

The women who arrived from various parts of Kerala squatted on roads, by-lanes, footpaths and shop fronts in a radius of several kilometres around the temple to cook the mixture of rice, jaggery and coconut in earthen pots that is offered to the goddess seeking divine blessings. The ritual, which marks the climax of the nine-day annual festival at the temple, began at 10.30 a.m. with the high priest lighting a hearth with the flame taken from the sanctum sanctorum.

The flame was later transferred to another hearth on the temple premises, providing a cue for tens of thousands of devotees across the city to light their hearths. A huge pall of smoke rose over the city. In a celebration of womanhood, film actors rubbed shoulders with working women and domestic helps to offer Pongala.

Chipping in

Many families offered help for total strangers. Right from early morning, the roads leading up to the temple were packed with women. The summer showers on Monday evening and the partially overcast sky lowered the temperature, providing a welcome relief for the devotees till noon. Voluntary organisations and trade unions offered free meals and drinks to the women. Government agencies, voluntary organisations and residents’ associations provided assistance to the devotees. A large police force, including women constables, was on duty at the festival zone. Traffic policemen were posted at busy centres to regulate the flow of vehicles. By 2.45 p.m., 200 priests deployed by the temple trust fanned out to various parts of the city to sprinkle holy water on the Pongala, marking the consecration of the offering and the culmination of the ritual.

The exodus of devotees caused a traffic snarl on the Thiruvallam-Chackai stretch of the National Highway bypass. The police and volunteers toiled for several hours to clear the gridlock.

The KSRTC operated special services to clear the rush of devotees. A number of autorickshaws and private bus operators offered free trips for women from different parts of the city.

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