Thousands participate in Attukal Pongala in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Braving the scorching sun, thousands of women devotees gathered along the streets of Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday and prepared sweet dishes as offerings to the deity as part of the pongala festival of the famed Attukal Bhagavathy temple.

Women from weaker sections to celebrities and political leaders took part in the event .

With mosques, churches and households of Muslim and Christian families opening their premises and offering support to the Pongala participants, the event also turned out to be a reflection of the communal harmony prevailing in Kerala.

Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar said that the Attukal Pongala was the real Kerala story of harmony and unity as people participate irrespective of their castes. This Kerala story should reach every where, said Arlekar, whose wife also offered Pongala.

This year's Pongala is happening amidst the row of the film The Kerala Story 2 : Goes Beyond, which is allegedly an attempt by vested interest groups to create baseless communal narratives about Kerala. Hence the communal harmony during the Pongala festival is being widely noticed this time.

Union minister of state for labour and employment Shobha Karandlaje, wife of union minister of state for petroleum Suresh Gopi and many celebrities were among those who offered Pongala. Many foreign tourists also turned up to offer Pongala, which has attained world record for being the largest gathering of women for a temple festival.

The rituals started with fire from the temple being passed on to the makeshift hearths set up by devotees along the streets around the temple that stretched up to around ten kilometres at 9.45 am. By 2.15 pm holy water from the temple was sprinkled on the sweet dishes made of rice, jaggery and coconut.

Thiruvananthapuram mayor V V Rajesh said that around 3500 cleaning staff have been deployed by the city corporation to clean the roads on a war footing.