THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Braving the scorching heat, several thousands of women participated in the 'pongala' ritual in an area of 10 kilometres around the Attukal Bhagawathi temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
The women prepared the 'pongala payasam' - a mix of rice, jaggery, scraped coconut, powdered cardamom, fried cashew nuts and raisins.
The Pongala festival marks the finale of the 10-day-long ritual at the temple.
The ritual began when the temple's chief priest, Goshala Vishnu Vasudevan Namboodiri, lit the hearth at 10:30 am. It came to a formal conclusion with the chief priest offering the 'nivedyam' to Attukal Devi temple at 2:30 pm.
Around 300 priests were specially deployed for the day across the city for conducting the ritual.
More than 10-kms around the Attukal Devi Temple resembled a special hearth with women chanting prayers and seeking blessings from Attukal Devi. A helicopter threw flower petals from above marking the culmination of this year’s Pongala festivities at 2:30 pm.
Special arrangements by the KSRTC numbering 500 special buses and special memu trains by the Southern Railway have been initiated exclusively for women.
The capital city sported a festive look with this year's Attukal Pongala, 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.
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 who is slated to contest from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency for a fourth term clicked 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, but their fears were unwarranted as it subsided within minutes.