THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Braving the scorching heat, thousands of women devotees offered pongala at the age-old Karikkakom Sri Chamundi Temple here on Monday.
With the pongala festival, the seven-day long festival came to an end on Monday.
The temple premises literally turned into a holy ground with the smoke and the chanting of ‘Devi Mantras’ by devotees. The pongala hearths extended up to the Highway on the eastern side, Kochuveli Railway Station on the west, Chackai Junction on the South and World Market Junction on the North.
The pongala ritual began at 10.30 a.m. when the temple Thantri Puliyannoor Anujan Namboothiripad lighted the ‘Pandara Aduppu’ (main hearth), set up in front of the temple, with the fire from the ‘Kedavilakku’ inside the sanctum sanctorum. Following that, announcements were made, asking the devotees to light up their hearths.
In the afternoon, temple melsanthi Chelamattom K.G. Krishnan Bhattathiri sprinkled ‘theertham’ on the pongala in the main hearth. Later, as many as 125 priests sprinkled theertham on the pongala offerings by the devotees.
According to the temple authorities, there was a significant increase in the number of devotees this year. ``Pongala hearths were set up in and around the temple premises, in a radius of about 3 km. According to our calculation, around 7 lakh devotees offered pongala this year,’’ said temple manager Surendran Nair.
Elaborate security arrangements were made as part of the pongala festival under the leadership of City Police Commissioner Ravada Chandrasekhar. As many as 200 police personnel, including 25 women constables and 50 traffic police personnel, were pressed into service.
Free medical services were provided by the Health Department, Attukal Institute of Medical Sciences, Shiv Sena and Seva Bharati.
KSRTC operated 125 special services to Karikkakom from various depots.
