Headlines
All roads in Thrissur lead to grand finale of Pooram festival
Thrissur (Kerala), April 29
Thousands of
people on Wednesday converged here in the cultural hub of Kerala to
celebrate the grand finale of the nearly week-long Thrissur Pooram
festival, an annual temple festival and one of the biggest of its kind
in the state.
The festival is celebrated in the sprawling Thekkinkadu Maidan in the heart of Thrissur town.
Visitors stand by the road that runs around the temples.
Since
Wednesday morning, every inch of space was occupied, as a series of
cultural events including hundreds of professional panchari melam
(ethnic drummers) and decked up elephants went past, enthralling the
people.
Hundreds of foreign tourists are in town to witness the
event, which takes place for around 36 hours. It will end in the early
hours of Thursday with a spectacular display of fireworks.
Celebrated
every year in the month of 'Medam' (April-May) as per the Malayalam
calendar, the festival was introduced by King Sakthan Thampuran of the
erstwhile Kochi state in the late 18th century.
The participating
temples include the Vadakunnathan temple, the Krishna temple at
Thiruvambadi and the Devi temple at Paramekkavu.
Another
breathtaking event is the Panchavadyam, in which about 250 artistes
playing the thimila, maddalam, trumpet, cymbal and edakka take part.
Another 250 artistes take part in the Pandemelam with drums, trumpets, pipes and cymbals.
The
most visually rich and the most keenly awaited part of the event are
the decked-up elephants, known as 'Aana Chamayal pradarsanam'.
Another
spectacular show is 'Kudamattom' in which parasols of myriad designs
and colours are exchanged by the people atop the elephants.
"We
had only heard about this festival and we are really excited to be
witnessing one of the most breathtaking festivals where everything takes
place with a lot of discipline. The crowds are fantastic and seem to be
taking part and cheering the artistes who are putting up this grand
spectacle," a British couple said.
Even though it is a Hindu
temple event, over the years people cutting across religions work
overtime to see that everything goes smoothly.