Nearly one lakh devotees are expected to participate in the annual Pongala Maholasavam of Sree Puthiyakavu Bhagawathy temple here on March 8, temple authorities told a press meet here on Wednesday. The 12-day festival will conclude on Friday and all arrangements are in place.
The rituals will start with melsanthi (chief priest) N. Balamurali lighting the nilavilakku in front of the sanctum sanctorum at 10 a.m. and passing on the fire to pandara aduppu.
From the temple hearth, the fire will be passed on to other hearths and the commencement of pongala will be intimated through chenda melam. Voluntary organisations will distribute breakfast and drinking water to the devotees. The Seva Bharati will provide emergency medical aid.
Medical aid
A team of doctors and paramedics will offer their services on the occasion.
Kollam city has been divided into 45 blocks for the pongala festival and the bricks for setting up hearths and water will be made available at all blocks. Pongla kits can be bought from the temple counter at ₹100 and 500 male and 200 female volunteers will be deployed at various blocks to help the devotees.
The festival will follow the green protocol by going plastic-free. Devotees have been instructed to carry steel plates and glasses and not to litter the surroundings. A team of 100 priests will carry out the sanctification ceremony. The ‘shaktikumbham ezhunallappu’ ritual, which will commence at 4 p.m. from Kochupilamoodu Muneeshwara Swamy Temple, will reach back at the Puthiyakavu temple at 1 a.m. on Saturday.
The ritual will pass through the Thamarakulam Ganapati temple, Hanuman temple, Chittadeshwaram temple, Muthumariyamman kovil, Lakshminada temple, Kottamukku Madaswamy temple, Kottakakam Durga temple, Chamakada, Chinnakada Upasana Ganapathi temple, Kuravanpalam, Punnathanam, Vaidyasala junction, Kadappakada Dharmasastha temple, Karbala, SMP Mariamman temple, and Chinnakada overbridge.
The festival will conclude around midnight with the guruthi offering.