Guest guest Posted July 8, 2003 Report Share Posted July 8, 2003 Hi friends, I have uploaded some photos of " Thrissur Pooram " the best temple festival of Kerala, in my webshots album, you can see them at http://community.webshots.com/user/sandeep_e i have put only the photos of elephants used in the festival hope you will like it.. have a nice day Sandeep " Kerala's largest and most popular elephant festival takes place in the city of Thrissur during April or May (depending on the Hindu calendar). Temples from the surrounding villages each send elephants as their representative. pooram means elephant festival. The highlight of the pooram is when two teams of highly decorated elephants face each other on opposite ends of the huge grounds of the Vadakkunnathan (Shiva) temple. The elephants wear long golden coverings, called nettipattam, over their for head. The lead elephant of each team also wears a symbol of the temple deity on its forehead. When the signal is given, the people, who have been sitting astride the elephants, open and shut a series of brightly colored parasols in unison. The resulting display is a synchronized choreography of swirling colors. Though tens of thousands of people attend the event, most are unaware that the pooram is not a religious festival at all. It was created two centuries ago by Prince Rama Varma (1751--1804), also called Prince Sakthan ( " The Mighty " ), as a way of wresting control from the powerful Brahman priests whose administration was a hotbed of corruption. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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