Thrissur Pooram concluded on Saturday on a sad note following the death of two festival organisers of the Thiruvambadi Devaswom.
The Upacharam Chollipiriyal ritual, the farewell ceremony in which idols of Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi temples will be taken back to their respective temple, was held without any celebrations.
In the absence of festivities, the ceremony, which used to be conducted by noon, was held in the morning around 9 a.m. at a simple function.
Fireworks cancelled
The pooram city was literally numbed by the accident. Following the incident, both the Devaswoms cancelled the festivities of Pakal Pooram on Saturday. The colourful display of fireworks after the Upacharam Chollipiriyal ritual too was cancelled.
Both the deities reached atop an elephant with limited percussion for the ritual. Thiruvambadi Chandrasekharan carried the idol of Thiruvambadi Bhagavathy while Ernakulam Sivakumar carried the idol of Paramekkavu Bhagavathy.
In the wake of COVID-19, Thrissur Pooram was conducted with limited celebrations without people.
Limited celebrations
While the Thiruvambadi Devaswom conducted the entire events of the pooram with one elephant, the Paramekkavu Devaswom conducted it with 15 elephants.
The pooram exhibition too was suspended as some of the traders tested positive for COVID-19.