Thrissur Pooram goes on its majestic ride with all the pomp and splendor to be titled as ‘festival of festivals’, amazing generations after generations. While the innovations and renovations for its updating are on progress, Shruthi Parasuram, a young girl hails right from the middle of Thrissur town redefines this great symphony in terms of enjoyment to be transferred and preserved for the forthcoming cohort.

Thrissur is a small town in the midst of God’s own country-Kerala, a place frequently visited by tourists from all over the world. Some of the most famous temples of South India locate here — A town which has rapidly grown into a city with a variety of advancements to own. Apart from all these, the most popular aspect of Thrissur is ” Thrissur Pooram”.

The Thrissur Pooram, celebrated every year in April-May is spectacular, striking, breathtaking and simply amazing .It starts to fervor the populace with the colourful sample fireworks followed by an exhibition called “anachamayam“, then the much awaited pooram and finally the ‘bidding good-bye’ ceremony.

An about-turn

Now, coming to the historical aspect of this festival, Thrissur Pooram is about 200 years old, started by the former King of Cochin, Shaktan Thampuran in the 1790′s.Till then, the Arattupuzha pooram was the most famous one. Most of the temples of Thrissur district were participants of the Arattupuzha pooram. Once, when a few temples turned up late at Arattupuzha, they were denied entry there. This urged Sakthan Thampuran to orchestrate Thrissur pooram. Precisely, ten temples which were denied entry at Arattupuzha became participants of Thrissur Pooram. Another interesting part in the history of Thrissur Pooram is that during the time of Sakthan Thampuran, the time when women were not permitted to come out of their homes, a festival named “kovilakathumpooram” was held inside the palace of the ruler exclusively for the inmates of the palace. The sample fireworks held today is in memory of this bygone ritual of kovilakathumpooram.

Today, Thrissur Pooram is a festival that owns a place in the World map of Tourism. Though there are ten participants, the main competition is between the Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temples. The efforts put in by the authorities of these temples to bring out the pooram in such a wonderful manner, is commendable in more than one way. They work very hard day and night for over six months before the pooram for its success. Hats off to them!

The panorama that is Pooram

The Pooram day begins with the so called “ezhunnallippu” with three majestic tuskers at around 7 in the morning, from Thiruvambady temple. From here, they head off to ‘Brahmaswam madom‘, a place in Thrissur where the true culture of Vedas is being practiced even today. The tuskers come out from the ‘madom’ accompanied by the soothing “panchavadyam“. This is known as “madathilvaravu“. Simultaneously with this, another “ezhunnallippu” of fifteen tuskers take place at the premises of Paramekkavu temple accompanied by a “melam” played by many renowned artistes. Then comes the famous “Ilanjithara melam” which is being performed under a tree called “Ilanji” inside the “Vadakkunnathan” temple. Vadakkunnathan acts as a mere witness for the pooram ceremony without being participated in the bustles. After the ilanjithara melam, the fifteen tuskers of Paramekkavu come out through the “Thekke Gopuram” in the Vadakkunnathan Temple, accompanied by a large crowd. This beautiful scene is called the “thekkottirakkam”. The thekke gopuram is opened only twice in a year, once during sivaratri and secondly during thekkottirakkam. The tuskers go and stand in line in a disciplined manner. Once they have settled, the tuskers’ regime of Thiruvambady comes out through the thekke gopuram. Now, the two groups stand opposite to each other when the very famous and colourful “kudamattam” takes place. Umbrellas of different colours and varieties are shown by the two groups. The real competition can be seen here.

Once this is over, the tuskers go and bow in front of the statue of Sakthan Thampuran. After this, the devotees accompany the tuskers of Thiruvambady by singing bhajans.This is known as “kaani“. This is something least known to the public as most people leave to their homes after the kudamattom.

On the very next day after pooram, there lies in store the very beautiful and enchanting fireworks held at around 3 in the morning. Then another pooram takes place after which the thiruvambady and paramekkavu tuskers say good bye to each other in front of the Vadukkannathan temple with the expectation to meet again next year. This declares an end to the pooram of the year.

At present, the Thrissur Pooram is in the middle of a lot of controversies. These are mainly regarding the noise pollution created during the fireworks and the tuskers being irritated by making them walk in the scorching sunlight. But, these are all things that have been in existence for many years. I suggest, that we must maintain them as they are at least for our future generation. I don’t deny the fact about the elephants. But, recently, several measures have been taken to prevent them from being over- exhausted. Let us hope that the Thrissur Pooram will remain as it is and our future generation will also be able to enjoy it.

This year Thrissur Pooram falls on the 24th of April. Don’t miss it!!!!

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