THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Devotion and offerings will flow over the clay pots on Tuesday at the capital city, where sacrality will take over challenges posed by the scorching sun. With the participation of lakhs of women, the annual ritual at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple — Attukal Pongala — will be held here.
Temple authorities said that at least 40 lakh women will take part in the temple event, which is often called ‘Women’s Sabarimala. Traffic regulations, which began from Monday afternoon, will continue in the city till 8 pm on Tuesday.
At 9.15 am, melsanthi Brahmasree Aneesh Namboothiri will light the pongala hearth inside the temple, following which the hearths of devotees will be lit by 9.45 am, initiating the massive pongala. By 2.15 pm, over 350 priests designated from the temple will sprinkle the sacred water on the offerings of all devotees.
With the lunar eclipse also falling on Tuesday, the sanctum sanctorum of the temple will be closed by 3.10 pm after the pongala proceedings wrap up, and will be opened only by 7 pm. Rituals have also been streamlined on Pongala day due to this, temple officials informed. The festival this year comes with stricter regulations on food distribution.
“As of now, around 220 groups and volunteers have been given licences to distribute food and water,” said corporation health officer Dr A Sasikumar. Adding to this, Mayor V V Rajesh commented that the corporation has arranged one tanker of water each for every ward where Pongala offering is organised, with around 100 doctors on standby.
Traffic arrangements, too, have been tightened. “Thirty-three spots are designated as parking lots, and over 600 personnel are on duty,” says Traffic ACP Suresh R. The last few days saw a peak rush of devotees in the temple.
“The queue for darshan has been stretching till the Bund Road. We had to put up more barricades, with enough shade along the way for devotees who had been standing since 5 am. We are speeding up the darshan queue,” says Shobha V, president of the temple trust.
Roadsides across the city were lined with papers and bricks marked ‘booked’ by people reserving their slots in their convenient spaces. “In key areas near the temple, people reserve their place even one month back,” a lottery shop owner in the city commented.
Three injured in accident while heading to Attukal
Thiruvananthapuram: Three devotees travelling to attend the Attukal Pongala were injured after their car collided with a tourist bus at Udimoodu in Venjaramoodu on Monday evening. The accident happened around 5.20pm. The tourist bus was also on its way to Attukal when the accident took place. The impact left the car completely damaged. The injured were admitted to Gokulam Hospital. While hospital sources said the injured had suffered serious injuries, police said that the injuries were not life-threatening.
Illegal parking fee collection hits Pongala devotees
Thiruvananthapuram : Devotees arriving for the annual Attukal Pongala festival from various districts and neighbouring states have allegedly been fleeced by unauthorised private parking operators in the city. Several temporary parking centres, operating without permission from the corporation, were found collecting exorbitant fees from vehicle owners. Drivers, particularly those who arrived in the capital on Sunday from neighbouring districts, reported being charged as high as Rs 400 for parking larger vehicles. Following their complaints, the corporation intervened and temporarily shut down an illegally set up private parking facility at Iranimuttom. However, the centre was allowed to resume operations after it agreed to charge only the permitted rates. Mayor V V Rajesh directed that only the officially approved rates should be levied. He said that strict action will be taken against private operators running unauthorised parking facilities.