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.

All roads in Thrissur lead to grand finale of Pooram festival