Have you ever been into the middle of 30 grand caparisoned elephants with traditional drummers who drums rhythmically along with fireworks and thousands of people cheering? If not, show up your head to Thrissur Pooram (Pooram: festivals celebrated in temples annually) which happens in the Indian state of Kerala during Malayalam month Medom(April – May) every year. Thrissur Pooram aka mother of all festivals occurs in Kerala’s cultural city Thrissur. It annually gathers lakhs of people that considered to be Asia’s largest festival. This 7-day mammoth festival flocks people around the globe and makes witness the colorful energetic vibe that they never experienced before. It happens in ‘Thekkinkadu Maidanam’ in the center of Thrissur spans over 65 acres which seat Sri Vadakkunnathan temple. The surrounding roundabout known as swaraj round or Thrissur round having 2 km is considered to be the second-largest roundabout in the world.
History of the iconic festival
Sakthan Thampuran, the former ruler of Kochi started this mega event and this tradition went more than 200 years. In Thrissur 1798 the procession from temples appeared late due to rain and got refused entry to Arrattuppuzha Pooram which believed to be the biggest festival in Kerala at that time. The embarrassed authorities and people seek the help of Shakthan Thampuran to look into this entry issue. As a solution, he consolidated 10 temples around Vadkkunathan temple in Thrissur and organized a spectacular festive event in the same year which is larger than Arrattuupuzha Pooram. This was the beginning of the historic cultural festival ‘Thrissur Pooram’ which become the pride of Kerala. The participating temples(10 temples)are classified into two groups. Temples from Pramekkavu side and Thiruvambady side lead by chief participants Paramekkavu Bagavathi Temple and Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna Temple respectively.
The interesting 7-day festival
The seven-day festival start with flag-off(Kodiyettam) at day 1 in Vadakkumnathan temple accompany with religious ceremonies. The famous ‘Sample Vedikkettu'(fireworks) will be on day 4 which lasts one hour where you can see various patterns and displays of fireworks. Day 6, the Pooram day of ‘Medam’ month where Ilanjithara Melam, Madathil Varavu, and Kudamattam, take place in and around the ‘Thekkinkadu Maidanam’ adjacent to Vadakkumnathan temple. Ilanjithara melam is the participation of around 220 artists who do symphony with Chenda (drum), Cherukhuzhal(woodwind), and Kombu(trumpet) where people together cheer with them. After that those two principal temples compete friendly with each other through the elephant procession, fireworks, and portraits of their cultural events. A grand display of 15 elephants on each side decorated with ornaments (Nettipattam, Venchamaram, Aalavattam) and holding umbrellas are a visual treat for lifelong. These decorative and ornaments are used to make from scratch every year. Authorities make sure that it is not repetitive of previously built one. Day 7 known as ‘Pakalpooram’ which ends with eye feasting fireworks known as ‘Pakalvedikettu’. Booom !!
Thrissur Pooram Controversy
Animal Rights group has been noted that there is a violation of the conduct of elephants in Thrissur Pooram recently. They reported that Parading hundreds of elephants during the festival is totally against Animal act and some of the elephants are medically unfit to do this. Elephants owners in Kerala came forward and protest against this statement and it becomes a controversy across the state.
How to get into this festive?
Thrissur railway station is well connected with other major cities in India. Kochi international airport is the nearest airport located around 60 km from Thrissur. The place is more crowded and the main roads in the city center will be blocked during festive days.