Ponkala (on the 6th day of celebration)

This is a religious festival.  The name ‘Ponkala’ means “to boil over” and it is a ritualistic offering of porridge made of rice, sweet brown molasses, coconut gratings, nuts and raisins.  Commonly, women devotees participated in this ritual.  Rice, coconut and jaggery are brought by women devotees along with round earthen pots for cooking.  The chief priest of the temple lights the main harth from the divine fire in the sanctum sanctorum.  This fire is exchanged from one oven to another.  On the ‘Ponkala day’ a large congregation of women devotees squat at the temple premises, on roads , footpath, by lanes and shop fronts in a radius of many kilometers to cook the mixture of rice, jaggary and coconut in earthen pots that is offered to Goddess seeking divine blessings.  

Devi is considered to be the Mother Goddess of the ancient people of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In India, this belief is thought to have evolved from the deity “Kottave,” worshipped on the peak of Aayiramala. During ancient times, people from nearby villages gathered on this hill and stayed there throughout the celebrations, which lasted for several days. During these festivities, women took part in collective cooking, a practice believed to be holy and pleasing to the Goddess. This tradition of communal cooking strengthened the social bonds between villages and continues today in the form of Ponkala.

Ponkala is celebrated in many temples, including Aattukal Temple, Puthiyakavu, Mulloothara Devi Temple, Kovilvila Bhagavathy Temple, Chakkulathukavu Bhagavathy Temple, Karikayam Temple, Kanjirottu Valiyaveedu Temple, Panekkavu Bhagavathy Temple, and Thazhoor Bhagavathy Temple. The annual Ponkala of Aattukal Bhagavathy Temple has been entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest congregation of women in the world, witnessing nearly 2.5 million devotees on a single day in March performing the ritual.

Ponkala Festival at Elanthoor Bhagavathikkunnu Devi Temple is also very famous. Elanthoor Devi Temple Ponkala is witnessed by a sea of humanity that gathers along the temple surroundings, filling every road and open space with thousands of devoted women preparing the sacred offering with deep faith, devotion, and a sense of blessed togetherness.