Thousands of women devotees will make the annual Pongala offering to the presiding deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple on February 25, Sunday. Government agencies and the temple trust completed the arrangements over the past week for the smooth conduct of the event.
The devotees have been urged to adhere to the green protocol and avoid the use of plastics. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has advised devotees to place their hearths at a safe distance from electrical installations such as transformers and electric posts.
Around 3,500 police personnel have been deployed in the city for maintaining law and order during the festivities. The police have also set up aid posts and pickets as part of the security measures.
The Attukal Pongala falls on the ninth day of the annual ten-day festival at the temple.
On Sunday, the ‘Shuddha Punyaham’ ritual will be held at 10 a.m. followed by the lighting of the ‘Pandara Aduppu,’ the main hearth. The temple tantri will hand over the flame from the temple’s sanctum sanctorum to the chief priest. The latter will first light the Pongala hearth in the ‘thidapally.’ The ‘Pandara Aduppu’ will be lit at 10.30 a.m., after which the tens of thousands of Pongala hearths lining the city streets too would be lit.
The ritual offering consists of a sweet pudding of rice, jaggery, grated coconut, ghee and banana prepared in earthen pots.
The sanctification ceremony would be held at 2.30 p.m. The Chooralkuthu ritual, attended by boys aged between 10 and 12, will be held on Sunday evening. The procession bearing the deity would leave the Attukal Temple for the Sastha Temple at nearby Manacaud at 11 p.m.
Curtains will fall on the 2024 edition of the ten-day festival with the ‘Kaapazhipu’ ritual at 9.45 p.m. on Monday and the ‘Kuruthitharpanam’ in the early hours of Tuesday.
