Thiruvananthapuram: The ‘Attukal Pongala’ ceremonies have begun in the state capital amidst religious fervour. The fire was lit on the brick hearths for the preparation of offerings. 

To mark the beginning of the event, Tantri Thekkedath Parameswaran Vasudevan Bhattathiripad handed over the flame from the temple’s sanctum sanctorum to chief priest Gosala Vishnu Vasudevan. 

Following this, the chief priest lit up the hearth at the ‘Valiya Thidappally’. The co-priest then lit up the ‘Pandara Aduppu’ (Brick Hearth) in front of the temple. The flame was then passed out onto the rest of the hearths in the temple premises. 

The preparation of Pongala offerings had begun in this manner in the state capital. ‘Pongala Naivedyam’ is scheduled to take place at 2:30 PM.        

Women arrived in large numbers in the state capital from across Kerala and even the neighbouring states to celebrate the famous 'Attukal Pongala' festival here on Sunday.

The festival, which witnesses the convergence of thousands of women devotees, involves the preparation of offerings on brick hearths lining the roads of the city for the presiding deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy temple here.

Women have been arriving in the state capital since Thursday to grab good spots for setting up their brick hearths where they will prepare 'pongala' -- a mix of rice, jaggery and scraped coconut -- or various other kinds of sweet delicacies in fresh earthen or metal pots.

The pongala festival marks the finale of a 10-day ritual at the shrine.

Preparing 'pongala' is considered an auspicious all-women ritual as part of the annual festival of the Attukal temple here, popularly known as the 'Women's Sabarimala'.

As per a local legend, the annual festival commemorates the hospitality accorded by women in the locality to Kannagi, the divine incarnation of the protagonist of the Tamil epic 'Silappadhikaram' while she was on her way to avenge the injustice meted out to her husband Kovalan, after destroying Madurai city.

This year's 'pongala' is in the news for another reason also -- churches here have changed their worship timings for Sunday to accommodate the huge number of devotees expected to turn up on that day to celebrate the festival.

Besides changing the worship timings, some churches will also open their grounds and even some portions of their buildings for those celebrating the 'pongala'.

To ensure that the festival is celebrated in a safe and clean manner, the Kerala government's Suchitwa Mission has issued a set of green protocols.

The central thrust of the 'green pongala' campaign is to avoid single-use plastics and other kinds of disposables, including paper products, during the festival.

Only steel plates and steel glasses should be used for the distribution of food and drinking water, the Suchitwa Mission, a Technical Support Group (TSG) in the waste management sector under the Local Self Government Department, had said a day ago.

To increase awareness about the green protocols, a hashtag campaign with posters has been mounted on social media highlighting the central theme and the guidelines to be followed by organisers of food distribution drives, shop owners and voluntary groups, it said. (With inputs from PTI)