ATTUKAL PONGALA

About: 

• Venue: The Attukal Pongala held in Attukal Temple, Thiruvananthapuram.  
  
  
• Rituals: 
  • Pongala, which means 'to boil over’, is the ritual in which women prepare sweet payasam (a pudding made from rice, jaggery, coconut and plantains cooked together) and offer it to the Goddess or ‘Bhagavathy’. 
    
    
  • Attukal temple is also called 'women's Sabarimala' as only women perform the ritual. 
    
    
  • The Goddess-fondly referred to as ‘Attukalamma’ is said to be appeased by this ritual. 
    
    
  
  
  
• The festival that has figured in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the single largest gathering of women for a religious activity.