Colourful finale to Thrissur Pooram

THRISSUR: Even the elephant that ran amok during the Upacharam Chollal, the farewell ceremony, couldn’t dampen the spirit of the 36-hour-long Thrissur Pooram, which concluded here, on Wednesda
Colourful finale to Thrissur Pooram

THRISSUR: Even the elephant that ran amok during the Upacharam Chollal, the farewell ceremony, couldn’t dampen the spirit of the 36-hour-long Thrissur Pooram, which concluded here, on Wednesday noon.

The elephant, Kalidasan, which carried the idol of the Paramekkavu Bhagavathy, ran amok during the concluding ceremony of the Pooram at 11.30 am, creating jitters at the festival city for about an hour.

However, the mahouts could tame the tusker near the heart of the city after an hour, without causing damage to public property.

The ‘Upacharam Cholli Piriyal’ ceremonies were temporarily stopped following the incident, and were conducted later. The idols of Paramekkavu Bhagavathy and Thiruvambadi Bhagavathy were taken from the Thekkinkad Maidan to the respective temples after the ritual that marked the grand finale of the celebrations.

Lakhs of people visited the cultural city on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the Thrissur Pooram.

The events ‘Kudamattam’ (exhibition of a variety of decorative umbrellas) and ‘Kootti Ezhunnelippu’ were staged on Tuesday and re-enacted on Wednesday,

and it attracted lakhs of Pooram revellers to the city from the suburbs and neighbouring districts, filling

its arterial roads and by-lanes.

The festivities, which started with the ceremonial arrival of Kanimangalam Sastha’s Pooram through the southern gopuram at 7.30 am on Tuesday after a brief rain spell, gathered momentum with the arrival of processions from minor temples at Kanimangalam, Panamukkampilly, Chembukkavu, Karamukku, Laloor, Choorakkottukavu, Ayyanthole and Neythalakkavu.

The Madathil Varavu ceremony, in which the idol of the Thiruvambadi Bhagavathy was taken out in a procession to the Brahmaswom Madom began at 11.30 am, drawing an unprecedented crowd to the city.  

Percussion enthusiasts were seen waving their hands in joy as the ‘Panchavadyam’, led by Annamanada Parameswara Marar, reached a crescendo. Thousands of people gathered inside the Vadakkumnathan Temple erupted in rapture, when the band of percussionists, led by Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, produced the wild rhythmic beauty of the Pandimelam at Ilanjithara.

After the Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi contingents lined up at the Maidan at 5.30 pm, with the elephants Thiruvambadi Sivasundar and Paramekkavu Sree Sree Padmanabhan carrying the deitiess, Kudamattam began.

The main fireworks were held at 3 am on Wednesday.

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