The ‘Upacharam Cholli Piriyal’ (bidding farewell) ceremony brought the curtain down on this year’s Thrissur Pooram festival on Monday. Marking the finale of the 36-hour long celebrations, idols of the Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady temples bid farewell to each other in front of Vadakkunathan. After the ritual, the deities were taken to their respective temples .
In the morning, processions carrying the idols of the deities were taken to the Vadakkunnatha temple as part of the ‘Pakal pooram’, which is also called ‘Thattakathe Pooram’, to the accompaniment of Pandimelam led by Kizhakoottu Aniyan Marar for the Thiruvambadi side and Peruvanam Kuttan Marar for the Paramekkavu side. A large number of local people took part in the celebrations on the concluding day. These were followed by fireworks.
NGO Submits Memo
The Heritage Animal Task Force, a Thrissur-based NGO, has submitted a memorandum to the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, the Chief Minister and the Wild Life Warden demanding action against the organisers of Thrissur Pooram. In the memorandum, V K Venkitachalam, the NGO secretary, alleged that more than 99 elephants paraded in the pooram had no proper ownership certificates. He alleged that the elephants were tortured for more than eight hours on Sunday and 30 elephants were tortured on Monday as part of Pooram celebrations, violating the Kerala Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rules.
The Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu factions tortured the elephants for seven to eight hours continuously by parading them under the scorching sun. Besides, Devaswom authorities paraded the elephants that took part in the night procession again in the morning on Monday, violating the rule, he said. The two factions also abused two blind elephants amidst high decibel fireworksy. The Thiruvambadi Devaswom also forced 15 elephants to stand aslope during the ‘kudamattam’ ceremony, he said.