About Attukal Pongala
Attukal Pongala is the day when lakhs of women cook pongala, a sweet dish of rice, jaggery and coconut, in new clay pots along the streets of Thiruvananthapuram as an offering to Attukal Amma. In 2027 it falls on Monday, 22 February 2027, the ninth day of the Attukal temple festival, on the Pooram star in the Malayalam month of Kumbham.
For one morning a year, the streets of Thiruvananthapuram turn into a kitchen. Women set three bricks on the road, put a new clay pot on top, and wait for a flame that starts at the temple and travels to them. By early afternoon the offering is cooked, a priest's assistants sprinkle it with holy water, and the women carry it home.
The temple is the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple, about 2 km south-east of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, on the bank of the Killi river. Its goddess, Attukal Amma, is worshipped as a form of Bhadrakali and is also identified with Kannaki. Devotees call the temple the Sabarimala of women.
The story behind the offering
As tradition tells it, the goddess at Attukal is Kannaki, the heroine of the Tamil epic *Silappatikaram*. Her husband Kovalan was executed in Madurai after a goldsmith falsely accused him of stealing the queen's anklet. Kannaki proved his innocence before the Pandya king, and her anger burned the city.
On her way west to Kodungallur, the local story goes, she stopped at Attukal. The women there calmed her by cooking pongala and offering it to her, and she chose to stay. That is why the offering is made by women, and why it is cooked in the open, as if for a guest who has just arrived.
The story is also sung. Through the ten days, singers recite the thottampattu, a ballad of the goddess's life. The day the song reaches the death of the Pandya king is the day of Pongala.
How the ten days run
The festival opens on the Karthika star, nine days before Pongala, and closes the night after it. Drik Panchang places the start in Makaram or Kumbham, depending on the year.
- Day 1 · KappukettuThe goddess is invited
Two bangles of panchaloha, a five-metal alloy, are tied: one on the goddess's sword and one on the priest's hand. The thottampattu begins.
- Day 3 · Kuthiyottam startsBoys begin a penance
Boys under 12 stay at the temple for seven days, sleep on the floor, eat simply, bathe three times a day and complete 1,008 prostrations.
- Day 9 · PongalaThe offering
The main hearth inside the temple is lit, the flame is passed out to the streets, and the pongala is blessed in the early afternoon.
- Day 9 nightThe procession
The goddess goes on an elephant to the Manacaud Sastha temple, with the kuthiyottam boys and women carrying lamps in the thalappoli.
- Day 10 · KuruthitharpanamThe close
The goddess returns, the bangles are untied, and a night offering ends the festival.
What happens on Pongala day
Women begin arriving a day or two early. Many have kept a vratham for several days before: one meal a day, no meat, no alcohol. They claim a patch of pavement with bricks, a pot and a bundle of firewood or coconut fronds, and they stay. The hearths spread out from Attukal for about 10 km, along main roads, side lanes and open grounds.
The day turns on one fire. The head priest lights the pandara aduppu, the main hearth in front of the sanctum. Its flame is carried hearth to hearth until the whole city is cooking. The temple fixes the times each year by astrological calculation and announces them in the days before, so devotees go by that notice.
What goes into the pot depends on the vow:
| Offering | What goes in | Usually offered for |
|---|---|---|
| Sharkkara pongala | Raw rice, jaggery, coconut, cardamom, ghee | The main offering, for the family's well-being |
| Vella pongala | Raw rice, milk, banana, sugar | Thanks for a wish that came true |
| Therali appam | Rice flour, jaggery and banana, steamed in therali leaves | A personal vow |
| Mandaputtu | Roasted green gram, rice flour, jaggery and coconut, steamed in balls | Health of the head and hair, as devotees believe |
When the pots are done, the women wait for the nivedyam: priests sent out by the temple walk the roads and sprinkle the offerings with holy water. Only after that does anyone leave. The pot goes home, and the family eats the pongala as prasadam. Many women break the vratham with coconut water or milk.
The city plans for it. In 2026 the Thiruvananthapuram district had a local holiday on Pongala day, KSRTC ran special buses, and the municipal corporation set a green protocol: cloth bags, steel vessels, no plastic, and no hearths on tiled pavements. Since 2018 the corporation has collected the bricks left behind and given them to poor families building houses under the state's LIFE housing scheme.
How many women come
Guinness World Records recognised Attukal Pongala in 1997 as the largest annual gathering of women, with about 15 lakh women, and again in 2009 with about 25 lakh, according to the temple and Kerala press reports. Before the 2026 festival the temple trust expected 35 to 40 lakh. These are estimates by the organisers. Nobody counts the hearths.
Why it is called Pongala
Pongala and the Tamil harvest festival Pongal share a root: the word for boiling over, and in both a pot of rice and jaggery is cooked until it bubbles up. The two are otherwise different. Pongal is a four-day harvest festival in Tamil Nadu in January. Attukal Pongala is a temple vow made by women in Kerala in February or March. Kerala's other big public festivals, Onam and Thrissur Pooram, are harvest and temple events of quite another kind.
Amma, may Attukal Amma accept your pongala and keep every one of us under her care. Do not stand in the sun longer than you have to.
Wishing you a blessed Attukal Pongala. You kept the vratham for all of us. I will carry the pot home.
Your first Pongala. Get there early, take water, and keep the pot steady when the flame reaches you. Attukal Pongala ashamsakal.
Wishing you and your family a peaceful Attukal Pongala. Hope the offering is accepted and the walk home is easy.
Attukal Pongala ashamsakal. Amma hears a pot cooked at home just as well. Praying with you from here.
Thinking of you on Pongala day. We will keep some of the prasadam aside for when you come home.
Attukal Pongala ashamsakal. Attukalamma anugrahikkatte. (Attukal Pongala greetings. May Attukal Amma bless you.)
- Pongala
- The offering of rice, jaggery and coconut cooked in a new clay pot
- Pandara aduppu
- The main hearth at the temple, from which every other fire is lit
- Nivedyam
- The moment the cooked offering is sprinkled with holy water and given to the goddess
- Thottampattu
- The ballad of the goddess sung through the ten days
- Kappukettu
- The tying of the bangles that opens the festival
- Kuthiyottam
- The seven-day penance kept by boys under 12
- Vratham
- The vow of fasting and restraint kept before the offering
- Ashamsakal
- Greetings, in Malayalam
How to wish someone on Attukal Pongala
Most women who go have kept a vratham for days and will stand at a roadside hearth from morning until the offering is blessed in the afternoon. A good wish names that effort and asks for Attukal Amma's blessing on her and her family. Keep it devotional and warm. Mention the pot, the heat or the prayer she carried with her. For someone who cannot go this year, a line about cooking it at home, as many women do, is kind. "Attukal Pongala ashamsakal" is the usual Malayalam greeting.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Malayalam.
When is Attukal Pongala in each year?
Attukal Pongala is set by the Malayalam solar (Kollam era) calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 9 days earlier than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027may vary by location
- 2028may vary by location
Frequently asked questions
When is Attukal Pongala in 2027?
Attukal Pongala 2027 falls on Monday, 22 February 2027. The exact date can vary by location and local calendar, so confirm with your community.
Can men take part in Attukal Pongala?
The street offering itself is made by women, and that is the heart of the day. Men take part in other ways: boys under 12 keep the kuthiyottam penance, men carry the lamp structures in the processions, and families, volunteers and local groups help with transport, water and food for the women at the hearths.
What is cooked at Attukal Pongala?
The main offering is sharkkara pongala, made of raw rice, jaggery, grated coconut, cardamom and ghee, cooked in a new clay pot over a brick hearth. Some women also cook vella pongala with milk and banana, therali appam steamed in leaves, or mandaputtu made from roasted green gram, depending on the vow they have taken.
Can you offer Attukal Pongala at home?
Many women who cannot travel to Thiruvananthapuram cook pongala at home or at a local Devi temple on the same day, usually timed to the lighting of the temple's hearth. Devotees treat it as a full offering made with the same vow.
Why is Attukal Pongala in the Guinness World Records?
Guinness World Records recognised it as the largest annual gathering of women, first in 1997 with about 15 lakh women and again in 2009 with about 25 lakh, according to the temple and Kerala press. Recent turnouts are estimated at 35 to 40 lakh, though these are the organisers' figures.
How is the date of Attukal Pongala decided?
Pongala falls on the Pooram star in the Malayalam month of Kumbham, which usually lands near the full moon in February or March. The temple trust fixes the exact day and the hearth-lighting time each year on its astrologers' advice, and almanacs such as Drik Panchang note that their date can differ from the temple's by a day.
What should I bring for Attukal Pongala?
Devotees bring a new clay pot, rice, jaggery, coconut, ghee, firewood or dried coconut fronds, and bricks for the hearth. The city's green protocol asks for cloth bags and steel vessels instead of plastic, cotton clothes, no gold jewellery, and hearths kept off tiled pavements and the road itself.
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