Attukal Pongala 2016

Attukal Pongala 2016

A festival that has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest single gathering of women for a religious activity, the Attukal Pongala is an event to be hold.

During the Pongala festival celebrated at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, the entire city turns into a sea of devotion.

the event is going to be on 23-02-2016 at Attukal Bhagavathi Temple locating at Attukal, Thiruvananthapuram, district.

Pongala means to boil over(spill over while boiling) is a ritualistic offering of a sweet dish(paramnnam) cooked with rice porridge, jaggery, coconut gratingsa and adding some nuts and raisins. Devotees offer this sweet dish called pongala to appease the presiding deity of the temple - the Goddess called as Attukal Amma.

here no males are allowed only women are allowed to participate in the Pongala festival. Right from the night before the Pongala day, thousands of women, regardless of religious faith, assemble at the temple premises and on either side of the roads leading to it, in preparation for the sweet dish pongala. Devotees all over the country and even from abroad come and participate in this festival.

how to reach to the attukal bhagavathi temple
Nearest railway station: Thiruvantanthapuram Central, about 3 km
Nearest airport: Trivandrum International Airport, about 5 km
expecting this year around 40 lakh devotees to take part in this  10 days Attukal Pongala festival going to be held at Attukal Bhagavathi temple in Thiruvananthpuram on 23/02/2016 .

Women from all over  Kerala and outside of kerala started arriving in large numbers today to take part in the festival.

Last year around 35 lakh women took part in the event which entered the Guinness World Records in 2009 for the maximum participation by women.
The temple is dedicated to Attukal Bhagavathi, a goddess believed to be an incarnation of Kannaki, the central character of Tamil epic "Silappathikaaram".

3,500 policemen will be deployed to control the crowd and keep the devotees in safe condition.

The state government announced a half-day holiday today and a full day holiday on Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The festival begins around 10.30 am on 23/02/2016.

By 1.30 pm when the holy water from the temple is sprayed by specially appointed priests, the women then pack up and return.