Attukal Pongala 2012 on March 7

Trivandrum, February 2, 2012: This year's Attukal Pongala will be celebrated on March 7. Government have issuedspecial funds for the renovation of the roads, development of other facilities.

Rs. 42 lakhs already sanctioned for roadworks in relation with this year's Pongala festival.  Government also appointed a Nodal officer to coordinate the Attukal Township project. The government agreed to sanction Rs. 7.30 crores for the Attukal township development.

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K J Yesudas Wins First Harivarasanam Award Of Travancore Devaswom Board

Trivandrum, January 16, 2012: Playback singer and classical vocalist K J Yesudas has been chosen for the first Harivarasanam Award of the TDB.

The prize comprising of Rs. 50,000, citation and memento would be presented to him on the Vishu [Malayalam New Year]

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New Rules to control VIPs and VVIPs in Padmanabha Temple

Trivandrum, August 16: VIPs and VVips will not be allowed to move freely in the Temple campus, as the security has tightened in the Temple.

Atleast 20 - 25 VIP categorised persons are visiting the Temple daily after the news of Temple vault has spread.

The security officer said that the VIPs wont allowed to move freely inside the temple and they are going to introduce a special entry and exit path for VIPs and VVIPs.

Bypassing queues would be the major privilege that VIPs expect from the temple.

In all the major temples like Guruvayur and Sabarimala informal arrangements are in place for VIPs to bypass queues.

Such an arrangement would be in place in the Sree Padmanabha Swami temple too.

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Dates bought the 'Spring of Taste' back in the City

Kimiya, Kasco, Fard zarari, Mariyami ... they all are here in our city streets. No i'm not
telling the names of the soccer players from middle east. These are the varieties of Dates
available in the city.

As Ramzan completes its first week, the Dates availablity is awesome in Trivandrum. The
response of Trivandrumites are also very good. "We know the demand for Dates will increase
very much in Ramzan season, so we have imported quality product for this season" said
Mansoor, Dates vendor in Connemara, Palayam.

Among the import quality Dates, Kimiya from Iran is the most costly and mostly demanded
variety. It costs 200 per Kg. Kimiya is the sweetest and softest Dates available in the
market. Next in the line is Kasco from Saudi Arabia. It costs around 160-170 range per Kg.
Kasco too is sweet but it is not as soft as Kimiya.

Another important Dates available in the market is Fard-Zarari from UAE. It costs around
140-160 range. It got the darkish brown colour, but not so sweeter comparing with Kimiya.

Mariyami is another important variety of Dates available now and she hails from Kuwait. Mariyami is a beauty, reddish in colour and thick in nature and cost is rupees 80 per Kg.
Augustine, who is a gulf return and a big lover Dates said "i always eagerly wait for Ramzan to come, for tasting varieties of Dates."

Dates may be a fruit, but it unites the taste and take away the barriers of differentiated food cult of different sects of people.

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Beemapally Uroos of Beemapally Dargah Sherief Trivandrum

Beemapally Uroos, the annual festival of Beemapally Dargah Sherief of Trivandrum will be held from May 16 to 20, 2010.

The ten-day festival will begin with a procession on 16th morning.

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Attukal Bhagavathy Temple Trivandrum Attukal Temple Online Vazhipadu

The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple, located at Attukal in Trivandrum is popularly described as Sabarimala of the Women. The Goddess in the temple of Attukal is worshipped as the Supreme Mother, creator, the preserver and the destroyer. The temple is renowned for the Pongala Mahotsavam which is celebrated during February of every year.

The Myth
Attukal Bhagavathy is supposed to be the divinised form of Kannaki of Chilapathikaram, written by Elenkovadikal. The story goes that after the destruction of ancient city of Madurai, Kannaki left the city and reached Kerala via Kanyakumari and on the way to Kodungalloor took a sojourn at Attukal. Kannaki is supposed to be the incarnation of Parvathy, the consort of Paramasiva. The all powerful and benign Attukal Bhagavathy reigns eternally supreme at Attukal and nurses devotees as a mother does her children. Thousands of devotees from far and near flock to the Temple to bend before the Goddess with awe and reverence to prostrate and redress their affliction and agony.


Pongala Mahotsavam
The Pongala Mahotsavam is the most important festival of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple. The offering of Pongala is a special temple practice prevalent in the southern part of Kerala and some parts of Tamilnadu. It is a ten-day programme commencing on the Karthika star of the Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham (February-March) and closing with the sacrificial offering known as Kuruthitharpanam at night. On the ninth day of the festival the world famous Attukal Pongala Mahotsavam takes place. The entire area of about 5 kilometre radius around temple with premises of houses of people of all caste, creed and religion, open fields, roads, commercial institutions, premises of Government offices etc. emerges as a consecrated ground for observing Pongala rituals for lakhs of women devotees assembling from different parts of Kerala and outside. The ceremony is exclusively confined to women folk and the enormous crowd, which gathers in Thiruvananthapuram on this auspicious day is reminiscent of the Kumbhamela Festival of North India.


ATTUKAL BHAGAVATHY TEMPLE TRUST
P.B. No. 5805, Manacaud P.O.,
Thiruvananthapuram - 695 009, Kerala, South India.
Phone: +91-471 - 2463130 (Off) 2456456 (Temple)
Fax : +91-471 - 2456457

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