3.5m women cook food on streets of Kerala

In what is billed as the largest congregation of women in the world, an estimated 3.5 million women thronged the Kerala capital on Wednesday and offered a special meal, cooked on the city streets, to a Hindu deity. Clad in traditional Kerala saris, the women set up earthen hearths on the streets and cooked the food called pongala using rice, jaggery, plantain and coconut to propitiate Bhagavathy, the main deity at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple here. The deity is believed to be an incarnation of Kannaki. The ritual is based on the legend that local women had offered Pongala to pacify Kannagi when she reached Trivandrum on her way to Kodungalloor after destruction of Madurai city in a furious mood. They believe that she had destroyed Madurai. Devotees believe that the offering will bring them several blessings, including the well being to their husbands and family members. A large number of women in their marriageable age offer Pongala to get husbands of their liking. The pongala ritual on Wednesday began at 10.15 in the morning when the chief priest light the pandara adipu (main stove) at the temple. The fire was then passed on to one hearth after another. Pongala was offered to Bhagavathy after sprinkling of holy water. Besides 250 priests, a helicopter was also used to sprinkle the holy water on the pongala. The entire area of about 12km radius around temple, including open fields, roads and premises of houses, commercial institutions and government offices were occupied by the women cutting across caste and religious lines. People living around the temple, irrespective of castes, creed and religion came to the help of the devotees.