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BANGALAORE, INDIA, February 25, 2002: Attukal Pongala occurs in the Malayalam month of Kumbham corresponding to February-March. Pongala is celebrated on the ninth day with star Pooram and Full Moon day (falling this year on February 27). The 10-day festival of women only in Attukal Bhagavathy temple, considered the Sabarimala of women, in Thiruvananthapuram, attracts hundreds of thousands of women from Kerala and neighboring states. On Pongala day, women gather at the temple from early in the morning. Observing strict austerities, they prepare Pongala, the sweet offering of cooked rice, jaggery and coconut, in earthen pots. The Pongala is symbolically offered to Devi, the Goddess. the festival is marked by daily musical and cultural programs. On the concluding day, they are taken out in a ceremonial procession to the Sastha shrine at Manacaud, about 1.2 miles away. The origin of the festival dates back to the period of Kannagi, heroine of the well-known Tamil literature Silappathikaaram. It is said that Kannagi, who by her wrath burned Madurai in retaliation against her husband’s death, proceeded to Kerala and rested at Attukal. The local women are believed to have cooked Pongala to soothe Kannagi’s rage.

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