Attukal Bhagavathy Temple
ആറ്റുകാൽ ഭഗവതി ക്ഷേത്രം
Why this temple matters
In the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the Goddess is worshipped as Attukal Bhagavathy — a Devi bound to the story of Kannaki, whose Pongala festival draws the largest gathering of women anywhere on earth.
History
The Attukal Bhagavathy temple stands in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. The Goddess here is worshipped as Bhagavathy, in the devotional line of Kannaki, the wronged heroine of the Tamil epic Silappadikaram who became a goddess. The temple is often called the 'Sabarimala of Women', for its greatest festival belongs entirely to women.
Architecture
The temple is built in the Kerala manner, with a sloped-roof sanctum and carved woodwork, gathered around the shrine of the Goddess. Its fame, though, lies less in its stones than in the ocean of women that fills the streets around it at Pongala.
Legends
The Goddess is identified with Kannaki, who, having lost her husband to a king's unjust judgement, is said to have come to Attukal on her way and revealed herself here as Bhagavathy. Her story of a wrong righted and a woman deified is the heart of the temple's devotion.
Festivals
The Attukal Pongala is the great festival, when millions of women fill the city and its streets for miles to cook pongala — an offering of rice and jaggery — in the open on hearths of brick, a gathering recognised as the largest of women anywhere. It is the temple's defining day.
The Experience
To see Thiruvananthapuram on Pongala day — its streets a single field of hearths and smoke and offering, tended by millions of women — is among the most striking sights of devotion in India.