Kerala's Thrissur Pooram returns after 2 years, draws huge crowd

Thrissur Pooram, the annual festival that takes place at the Thekkinkadu Maidan in Kerala’s cultural capital, was held on Tuesday in its full aplomb after a two-year hiatus.

The Pooram was a welcome sight not just in terms of the cultural spectacle it provided, but also because for the past two years the temple grounds were practically empty, devoid of the mass furore that is signified by Thrissur Pooram.

Due to the pandemic, and with the Covid-19 related precautions in place, only the bare minimum rituals were conducted to mark the annual event.

On Tuesday, thousands of people thronged the Thekkinkadu grounds on the Vadakkunnathan temple premises in Thrissur to witness the festival.

The auditory revelry provided by percussion instruments, played by eminent performers for hours, the parade of the elephants of Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady devaswoms (socio-religious temple trusts), and the resplendent display of kudamaattom (exchange of decorative parasols) atop the elephants were the usual mainstay of this festival, that has gained international fame.

The firework display, which will run till early hours of Wednesday, had been missing from the city’s milieu for the past two years. The throngs of crowds, that stayed on despite the rains in the evening, were there to mark the decided return of the festival in its full glory.

Tuesday’s display, which was the culmination of the festival that began last Wednesday when the Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temples raised their ritualistic flags at their respective premises.

The 30-elephant display—15 for Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temples each—were placed on either side of the ground.

Temple mahouts, sitting atop the elephants, began their twirls and the kudamaattoms, using the decorative parasols—made from silk with traditional works and those made with modern technology such as LEDs.

Flagged off with a Panchavadyam (orchestra of five percussion instruments), the next in the percussion feast was Chempadamelam (special performance using traditional percussion instruments). The final performance was the Madathil Varavu, a gathering of more than 200 percussion artists creating a thunderous symphony produced using instruments such as thimila (an elongated hour-glass shaped drum), maddalam (large drum made of the wood from jackfruit tree), trumpet, cymbals and idakka (an hourglass shaped small drum with tassels).

People’s excitement while witnessing such displays was palpable. The air was filled with hurrahs that matched the volume of the drums.

Earlier, the Paramekkavu group planned to prepare an 'Azadi umbrella' featuring the image of Hindutva leader V D Savarkar, among the images of freedom fighters and social reformers. But the organisers decided not to use it to avoid a controversy.