Attukal Pongala celebrated

Aurangabad, Feb 17: Attukal Pongala celebrations were organised at the local Ayyappa Temple with great enthusiasm, today. Devotees took part in all religious rituals followed by Mahaprasadam.

Attukal Pongala is celebrated in the Attukal Temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This ten-day festival is devoted to the worship of Attukal Devi and is marked every year in the Malayalam month of Kumbham. This is a women-centric festival. Women offer sweets in earthen pots to the deity Attukal Devi. The Kerala residents settled in Aurangabad celebrate this festival at the local Ayyappa temple.

Significance and rituals

Pongala is the ritual in which women prepare Pongal and offer it to the deity popularly called Bhagavathy. The rituals of Attukal Pongala can only be performed by the women devotees. A larger number of women come together to perform rituals.