Sivasakthi -Aryan and Dravidian

[Guest guest]

The women who gathered for Attukal Pongala on March 3 2007 spread over a distance of 10 km in radius numbering to 25 lakhs. It has turned out to be the biggest congregation of women in the world.

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Yours Sincerely

Dr. Harishankar

para_anuloma <para_anulomaRajarajeshwari_Kalpataru Sent: Sunday, March 4, 2007 8:31:38 PM[Rajarajeshwari_Kalpataru] Attukal Bhagavathy Temple--Thankyou Devan Kesav for the info.

 

 

The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple, one of the ancient temples of South India, is popularly described as Sabarimala of the Women, as women form the major portion of devotees. The Goddess in the temple of Attukal is worshipped as the Supreme Mother, creator of all living beings and the mighty preserver as well as destroyer of them all. The pilgrims from all over the country, who visit Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple and worship the Lord, do not consider their visits complete without the visit to the shrine of the supreme Mother Attukalamma. Vishnumaya took the incarnation of Bhagavathy to annihilate the evil and protect the good in the world in the present Era namely Kaliyuga.

The Pongala Mahotsavam is the most important festival of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple. The offering of Pongala is a special temple practice prevalent in the southern part of Kerala and some parts of Tamilnadu. It is a ten-day programme commencing on the Karthika star of the Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham (February-March) and closing with the sacrificial offering known as Kuruthitharpanam at night. On the ninth day of the festival the world famous Attukal Pongala Mahotsavam takes place. The entire area of about 5 kilometre radius around temple with premises of houses of people of all caste, creed and religion, open fields, roads, commercial institutions, premises of Government offices etc. emerges as a consecrated ground for observing Pongala rituals for lakhs of women devotees assembling from different parts of Kerala and outside. The ceremony is exclusively confined to women folk and the enormous crowd, which gathers in Thiruvananthapuram on this auspicious day is

reminiscent of the Kumbhamela Festival of North India.

The holy fire set in Pandara Aduppu – the starting ritual of Pongala

Incarnation of Goddess

India has ever been the holy land of gods and goddesses. Since ages past, men and women kings and emperors, saints and sages here were worshipping the Lord not only as the omnipotent and absolute 'one' but also as the 'one' whose manifestations are varied and manifold and who possesses different names, forms and divine attributes. Thus Almighty the Eternal God was worshipped in different forms such as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, and their consorts; representing specific divine attributes of the Lord. Ancient puranas have described that Siva and Sakthi were simultaneously worshipped from the period of Aryans and Dravidians. Vishnumaya took the incarnation of Bhagavathy to annihilate evil and protect the good in this world. She grants every wish of Her devotees and resides in their hearts in multifarious forms.

Womenfolk flocking together to offer pongala to Devi – A Scene from Railway station

Story of Kannaki

According to mythology, Attukal Bhagavathy is supposed to be the divinised form of "Kannaki", the famous heroine of Chilappatikaram, the sangham work of Tamil Literature written by ilamkovadikal. After the destruction of the ancient city of Madurai, Kannaki left that city and reached Kerala via Kanyakumari and on her way to Kodungalloor took a sojourn at Attukal. The hymns of the "Thottampattu ) sung during the annual temple festival, are based on the story of Kannaki. Moreover, architectural depictions of Goddess Kannaki seen on the Gopuram temple substantiate this mythology. Small wonder then. that, Sri. Vidyadhiraja Chattambi Swamy, the well known saint of Kerala, found this temple premises ideal for his meditations. And there are so many stories which prove the greatness of the Goddess and which attract thousands of devotees to the temple.

 

 

 

 

Ponkala Mahotsavam 'Ponkala' is the most important festival of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple. The offering of Ponkala is a very special temple practice in the southern part of Kerala. The ten-day- long celebration commences in the

Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham (Feb - March)on the Karthika star. Ponkala ceremony is on the

auspicious day of Pooram star which coincides with full moon. The festival commences with the musical

rendering of the story of the Goddess (Kannaki Charitam) during the "Kappukettu ceremony".

The story invokes the presence of Kodungallur Bhagavathy and the slaying of the Pandyan King.

The song will continue for all the nine days preceding Ponkala. The event of the Goddess annihilating

the Pandyan King is accompanied by much sound and fury of the temple drums and "Vaykurava" by devotees

, immediately followed by the lighting of the hearths for the preparation of the offering for the Goddess.

This festival commemorates the victory of Good over Evil, by the slaying of Pandyan King.

Throughout the festival an atmosphere of celebration and festivity prevails and there are the solemn

observances such as regular conduct of Bhajans, musical concerts, ballets depicting folk and temple

arts etc. in the temple premises. This is symbolic of the philosophy that human and divine affairs are

inter-woven so minutely in all its disquisitions. Processions of colourful floats of the deity from all around,

carried with pomp and devotion by the devotees congregating in the temple premises provides a pleasing

experience. A Rare Charm of the Festival On the 9' day of the festival, it would appear as though all roads in and around Thiruvananthapuram

city lead to the Attukal Temple. The entire area of about 5 Kilometres radius around the temple, with

houses of people of all caste, creed and religion open fields, roads and commercial institutions emerge

as a consecrated ground for observing Ponkala ritual for the lakhs women devotees assembling from

different parts of Kerala and outside. This ceremony is exclusively confined to women folk. It is a

delightful sight to see waves after waves of women of all age groups without caste, colour and creed

surging into this area well in advance mostly carrying on their head materials such as firewood,

earthern pots rice, jaggery, coconut etc. to mark out specific spots for the preparation of their offerings to

the Goddess. The important ritual in the 'Ponkala' is the preparation of rice or varieties of sweet rice using

hearths and the earthern pots in the open. The signal for lighting -the hearth is given by the chief priest of

the temple at a prefixed auspicious time followed by the humming of the temple drums. The ceremony concludes with the sprinkling of holy water by temple priests at the appointed time in the

evening accompanied by an aerial showering of flowers to the honour and glory of the Goddess Almighty.

The temple authorities make all necessary arrangements for the welfare of this huge congregation with the

active participation of the voluntary agencies, local people, members of the festival committee and the various

government departments. They ensure law and order in the area with the support of the police and the

volunteers specially detailed for the purpose. The enormous crowd which gathers here is reminiscent of the

huge gatherings of the Kumbha Mela festival of North India. Kuthiyottam and Thalappoli Kuthiyottam performed by boys and Thalappoli by girls are two popular rituals made on the Ponkala day.

A stream of young girls dressed in traditional attire holding Thalappoli starts very early in the morning

with the hope that the Goddess almighty would be pleased to bestow on them beauty inward and outward,

health, wealth and happiness. Boys below the age of 13 years make the offering of Kuthiyottam.

These young boys represent the wounded soldiers of the Goddess Mahishasura Marddini. On the third day

of the festival these young boys receive the prasadam (offering) from the temple priest and start a seven day

penance to purify their body and mind. For the purpose they have to pass through rigorous physical and

mental discipline such as sleeping on the floor, observing strict diet restrictions, staying in the temple etc.

Besides these, the boys have to undergo such disciplines like prostrating 1008 times before the deity

after their morning and evening oblations. The Divine Procession No sooner are the boys adorned for accompanying the Deity than the grand procession begins.

The procession with illumination, floats and colourful festoons on either side of the road generate

a gala atmosphere. This is made more attractive with various art forms like peacock dance, poykuthira dance,

kolkali, theyyam, kumbhadance, display of other art forms which are followed by kuthiyottam, panchavadyam.

Lastly a sight to behold is, the magnificent procession of Attukal Bhagavathy on the caparisoned elephant

displaying with Alavattom and Venchamaram under the resounding echo of occasional gun shots.

Enroute it is a splendid sight to see the devotees who assemble on either side of the road welcoming the

goddess in reverence with different kinds of offerings in salvers and "vaykurava". The procession starting from

Attukal temple reaches the Sastha Temple at Manacaud in the small hours of the morning and after the

necessary pooja ceremonies performed there, the entourage returns to Attukal. Thereafter, the deity is

received back in the sanctum with Deeparadhana. Soon after the Deeparadhana, the 'boys are

delivered of the penance in an orderly manner. At night, rendering of devotional songs takes place

which is followed by the ceremonial removal of the "Kappu". The ten day festival Culminates with the

sacrificial offering known as 'Kuruthi Tharpanam' at night.

Smt. Savithri Devi (Mani Chechi), mother of Cricketer Sri Shanth offering Pongala

PONKALA GOT ENTERED INTO GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS FOR LARGEST

NUMBER OF WOMENFOLK GATHERING TOGETHER TO PERFORM THE RITUAL

THE NUMBER OF WOMEN IS ROUGHLY ESTIMATED TO BE MORE THAN 25 LAKHS

Mind touching prayers!

Amme Narayana!!!

Sarvamangala Mangalye! Shive Sarvartha Sadhike! Saranya Thrayambike Gaouri

Narayani Namastuthe!! !

 

 

 

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