Thousands of women devotees offering Pongala during Attukal Pongala ritual in Thiruvananthapuram on March 7, 2023
| Photo Credit: MAHINSHA S
Women devotees have lit tens of thousands of makeshift brick hearths across the State capital with the fire of the ‘Pandara Aduppu’ at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple shortly after 10.30 a.m., signalling the start of the 2023 edition of the annual Attukal Pongala ritual.
The ritual offering consists of a sweet pudding of rice, jaggery, grated coconut, ghee and banana prepared in earthen pots. The Attukal Pongala, one of the largest gatherings of women in the world, falls on the ninth day of the annual ten-day festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple.
Women getting ready for the Pongala offering on March 7, 2023, morning
| Photo Credit:
MAHINSHA S
The Pongala ritual will come to a formal close with the sanctification ceremony at 2.30 p.m. This year, 300 priests have been specially appointed for the sanctification ceremony.
The Chooralkuthu ritual, attended by boys aged between 10 and 12, will be held on Tuesday evening. A procession bearing the deity would leave the Attukal Temple for the Sastha Temple at nearby Manacaud at 10.15 p.m.
The concluding ceremonies of the ten-day festival will begin at 9.15 p.m. on Wednesday, and the festival would come to a close in the early hours of Thursday.
