THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The capital city is sporting a festive look with this year's Attukal Pongala. The chief priest of Attukal Devi Temple, Goshala Vishnu Vasudevan Namboodiri lit the hearth at 10:30 am. The nivedyam will be offered at 2:30 pm which would see the thousands of women returning to their homes.
The deputy priest brought the fire from the Attukal Temple and lit the Pongala pot kept outside the temple. Priests appointed by the temple will light the hearth of the devotees across the capital city. It is known as the Sabarimala of women and holds the Guinness World Record for the largest congregation of women.
Pongala festival which witnesses the convergence of thousands of women devotees from within the state and outside involves the preparation of offerings on red brick hearts lining on both sides of the roads.
The women are set to prepare the Pongala payasam - a mix of rice, jaggery, scraped coconut, powdered cardamom, fried cashew nuts and raisins. They are also slated to make mandaputtu, therali, white nivedyam etc. The Pongala festival marks the finale of the 10-day-long ritual at the shrine.
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor took to his ‘X’ account, “The hearth has just been lit. Now, all wait for the offering to be cooked and boil over the sides of the ceremonial pot. #AttukalPongala”.
Clad in a maroon-coloured kurta with silk shawl, Tharoor could be seen clicking photos with his mobile. Senior Congress MP K Muraleedharan, General Education Minister V Sivankutty, food and Civil Supplies Minister GR Anil, veteran BJP leader O Rajagopal, Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation Mayor Arya Rajendran, Deputy Mayor PK Raju, BJP leader Krishna Kumar and Vattiyoorkavu MLA VK Prasanth also attended the proceedings.
The slight drizzling on Sunday morning caused anguish among the devotees who had thronged the capital city’s 10-km radius. But when the drizzling receded, the temple authorities and devotees let out a sigh of relief.