Thousands of Women Gather at Attukal Devi Temple in Kerala for Pongal Festival

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hindustantimes.com

 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, March 3, 2007: In one of world's biggest devotional congregations of women, thousands performed the Pongal ritual at the famous Attukal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. The entire city became a virtual sea of women when, cutting across caste, class and even religious barriers, women converged to cook the prasadam of rice and jaggery in fresh earthen pots on make-shift hearths, seeking the blessing of the presiding Goddess of the shrine.

 

Hailed as the women's Sabarimala, the Pongal has even made it to the Guinness Book of Records as a religious event that attracts the largest number of women on a single day. Devotees waited on city roads, streets and by-lanes hours before the ritual began at 10:45 am, when the holy hearth near the temple was lit by the chief priest. Within seconds, the fire exchanged hands and thousands of hearths were lit, making the rice-filled pots bubble and boil over.

 

Elaborate crowd control and security arrangements had been made by police and state agencies for the event. Over 3,000 police and fire personnel had been deployed in an area of seven kilometers around the shrine, where the devotees converged to perform the ritual.