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Rituals after pongala

For many, especially women devotees, the festival of the Attukal Bhagavathy temple ends with the pongala. It is not so. There are many things left even after that, like the procession carrying the deity's insignia in the night of the pongala day and the concluding day of the festival on Sunday.

For those who love colour, sound, and fury, the procession is the ultimate. The duration of the procession depends on the number of boys offering “kuthiyottam” to the deity during the festival. The boys are divided into groups of five or six and they precede the deity. Each group has one or two teams of performers preceding it. They consist of bands, “kumbha kudam dance” players and “poykal kuthira” performers. In between, there will be floats and tableaux depicting various scenes, mostly from the legends about the goddess.

Behind all that comes the deity on an elephant, which is handpicked for its qualities such as height, length of tusk and other features which differentiate a “Gaja raja” from ordinary elephants, its path lighted by multi-wicked oil lamps and to the accompaniment of the “vedi vazhipadu.” The sky gets lighted up with fireworks the moment the deity comes out of the temple for the procession.

There is a lovely story behind the procession. The Lord of the Manacaud Sastha temple who is considered as the goddess' brother comes on an elephant to invite her to his abode during the festival. The procession is the goddess' ceremonial response to the invite.

Even though the procession goes only up to the Manacaud temple, it is able to return only next morning because of its length and the halt it makes before every house on the way for the “thattam nivedyam.”

For those who prefer to stay back in the temple after the “purathezhunnellippu,” there is a performance by the Kathkali major set. Saturday it will be doing “Dakshayagam”. Saturday's “Thottam pattu” will also be appropriately on the goddess assuming a fearsome form and killing the Pandya king. The pongala is basically the celebration of her victory by her devotees. The festival ends only on Sunday night with a whole lot of interesting rituals.

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