| |
|
|
ATTUKAL
DEVI
|
Prathishta: Parvathi
|
|
Dist: Trivandrum
|
Thaluk: Trivandrum
|
Panchayath:
|
|
Festival:
Pongala in the day of Pooram in Kumbham. Also celebrated Thalapoli and
Kuthiyottam. This temple is also known as Sabarimala for the ladies.
Ponkala, an exclusive festival for women, is on the ninth day of the
festival. On the day of Ponkala, lakhs of women devotees assemble from
different parts of Kerala as well as other states and prepare ponkala,
a sweet offering of rice, jaggery and coconut, in earthen pots. After
Ponkala, the chief priest of the temple goes around and blesses the devotees
by sprinkling holy water and flower petals on them. On the concluding
day of the festival, the goddess is taken out in a procession to the
Sastha or Ayyappa temple at suburban Manacaud, a few km away. Caparisoned
elephants, young girls with Thalappoli, young boys undertaking Kuthiyottam,
and Nadaswaram parties form an important part of this procession. On
the way, people receive the goddess in front of their houses with Nirapara
and Nilavilakku, a Kerala custom in which the traditional measuring container
called 'Para' is decorated and filled with paddy as offering to the goddess.
Other
festivals and observances of the temple are Vinayaka Chaturthi,
Dussehra, Shivaratri, and Karthika Deepa
|
|
Importance
/ Main offerings:
|
|
Description:
Attukal
Bhagavathy Temple, one of the ancient temples of south India, is dedicated
to the Goddess Bhagavathi, one of the forms of Parvati. It is situated
on the banks of the Killi river, in Thiruvananthapuram. The temple is
beautified with carvings of the various manifestations of the goddess,
as Mahishasuramardini, Goddess Kali, Rajarajeswari, Sree Parvati with
Lord Paramashiva and various others.
Legend is that Devi Bhagavathi gave darshan to a devotee, the head of
the Mulluveettil family, as a 12-year-old girl near the Killi river.
In a dream she demanded him to establish an abode for her in the nearby
sacred ground of shrubs and herbs (kavu), at a consecrated spot marked
by three lines. The devotee later built a temple at this sacred spot.
According to mythology, Attukal Bhagavathy is supposed to be the divinised
form of Kannaki, an incarnation of Parvati and the famous heroine of
Shilappadikaram. The story goes that after the destruction of the ancient
city of Madurai, Kannaki left the city and reached Kerala via Kanyakumari
and on the way to Kodungallur sojourned at Attukal.
The
Attukal Bhagavathy Temple festival falls in February / March
and lasts for ten days. This is an occasion when the entire city
becomes focused on the temple. The streets are made colourful
on the festival days with colorful processions. Offerings called
'Vilakku kettu,' huge structures made of pith, decorated with
shining paper and garlands, and usually with the image of the
goddess, are carried to the temple in a procession. Some of these
look like miniature temples. Tender coconut frond and plantain
leaf-stalks are also used in making these.
|
|
Thanthri: Thekkedathu
Kuzhikkattillam
|
|
Trustee:
The
temple is governed by a registered body, Attukal Bhagavathy Temple
Trust. The Trust undertakes and monitors the work related to the
renovation of the temple, improvement of the roads leading to the
temple, expansion of areas for Ponkala, and provision of facilities
for the devotees to worship in the temple
|
|
Address:
P.B.No. 5805.
Manacaud P.O.,
Thiruvananthapuram - 695 009
Kerala
91-471- 2463130/2456456
|
| Any
other information: |
Photo:
 |
|
Route:
2 Kms. South East of Trivandrum East Fort, near Killiyaar. Trivandrum
International Airport, Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station, Thiruvananthapuram
Central Bus Station are the nearest access points.
|
|
