Shakti SoverAnia: Largest Gathering of Women Ever!

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http://www.vanamaliashram.org/ATTUKAL%20BHAGAVATHI.html 

 

 

 

.... largest gathering of women ever seen on the planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millions of women throng Kerala festival

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8544038.stm

 

http://www.attukal.org/html/origin.htm

 

 

 

 

Attendance at the festival has grown year after

 

 

year (Photos: Haris Kuttipuram)

 

 

 

 

By John Mary

 

 

Trivandrum, Kerala

 

 

India's southern

 

 

state of Kerala may have hosted the largest gathering of women ever seen on the

 

 

planet.

 

 

Clad in traditional Kerala saris and bearing

 

 

offerings of food, more than two million women - perhaps more - thronged the

 

 

state capital Trivandrum on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The women braved searing heat to offer a special meal at the

 

 

Attukal temple to Hindu goddess Bhagavathy - one incarnation of the

 

 

potent goddesses Kali and Saraswati.

 

Women howled shrilly, as is the custom at the culmination of

 

 

this 10-day annual event, and they joined the chief priest in offering

 

 

their earthenware pots overflowing with rice and jaggery - an unrefined

 

 

sugar - to the presiding goddess.

 

 

They were seeking her blessing for the health and prosperity of their families -

 

 

and the special meal, known as the pongala, was later

 

 

distributed among family and friends back at home.

 

 

Aerial count

 

 

Women howl shrilly as they make their offering

 

 

This is a unique festival the size of which is

 

 

unmatched - the congregation at Attukal temple has grown exponentially

 

 

over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such festivities used to be modest affairs and the annual

 

 

gathering was confined to the temple premises until about 25 years ago.

 

 

But once families associated with the temple formed a trust,

 

 

the festival became more organised, there was more publicity and it

 

 

attracted women from across the state and even foreign countries.

 

 

Guinness Worlds Records certified the crowd strength was 1.5

 

 

million when it was assessed for the first time in 1997.

 

 

Last year turnout was 2.5 million and this year, according to

 

 

festival organisers, it was estimated to be 3 million.

 

 

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple Trust secretary KP Ramachandran Nair

 

 

says that from next year an agency associated with the National

 

 

Geographic channel will conduct aerial surveys for a more scientific

 

 

headcount.

 

 

It is an elaborate logistical feat: almost 3,000 police, 600 of them women, were

 

 

on duty around the clock. Two hundred priests

 

 

positioned themselves at different points to sprinkle holy water on the

 

 

pongala.

 

 

Tearful devotees

 

 

At Sunday's mass offering, the ceremonial cooking began at 1015 local time (0445

 

 

GMT). The chief priest lit up the main hearth in front of the temple.

 

 

There is

 

 

nothing like this anywhere else in the world. It is amazing the way a

 

 

whole city makes arrangements for women to make this offering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diane Jennet, devotee

 

 

Smoke billowed from hundreds of thousands of

 

 

temporary hearths and hung above the city.

 

 

Tearful women swayed to the chanting of mantras, invoking the

 

 

blessing of the goddess until next year's festival.

 

 

Popular Malayalam television actress Chippi was also present:

 

 

" I've lost count of the number of times I've participated in the pongala

 

 

festival.

 

 

" And why I do it is because I am sure Attukalamma [the mother

 

 

goddess] will take care of me and family till I come back next year. "

 

 

Not everyone manages to make their offering close to the

 

 

temple: many had to set up hearth wherever they could.

 

 

People who live near the temple host dozens of women to cook

 

 

the pongala. One retired professor of English, MS Hema, hosted more than 100

 

 

friends and relatives at her home.

 

 

The size of the women's festival is unmatched

 

 

Among her guests was Dianne Jennet, who has been coming every year since 1997

 

 

from San Francisco. The collective

 

 

spirituality she observed in female devotees at Attukal became the

 

 

subject of of her PhD dissertation back in the United States.

 

 

" It's difficult to explain. I just develop this desire to make

 

 

the journey every year. Pongala is all about community, devotion and

 

 

equality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" There is nothing like this anywhere else in the world. It is

 

 

amazing the way a whole city makes arrangements for women to make this

 

 

offering. Nobody could imagine shutting down San Francisco for a day,

 

 

blocking the vehicles for a women's gathering, " she said.

 

 

The legend goes that Bhagavathy once visited the spot where the temple stands

 

 

today on the banks of the Killiyar river.

 

 

The goddess, in the guise of a girl, sought the help of the

 

 

head of a local family to cross the river. He helped her - but she

 

 

vanished soon after.

 

 

In the ancient religious texts, Bhagavathy is said to

 

 

annihilate evil and protects the good in this world - she grants every

 

 

wish of her devotees. This is also the fervent hope of the women who

 

 

come year on year.

 

 

At the end of the ceremony a small plane hovered above the

 

 

masses showering flowers.

 

 

It was the end to a tiring but spiritually nourishing session.

 

 

Devotees picked up their belongings and boarded buses and trains to head home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks & Regards,

 

 

 

 

from Sudhir Srinivasan