Poorangallude Pooram... Thrissur Pooram

The 36 hour festival that every person who is even remotely associated with Thrissur would like to talk about. The famous Thrissur Pooram. I write this blog post as the annual festivity happens this year and I happen to miss it! The origin, or to be more precise, the strory of origin are many. But the festival is the same. In a nutshell, the whole town comes to stop for the 36 hours of this festival's timeline and 'Humans' alike enjoy the elephants, the decorations, lightnings and decorations (chamayam), the Melam and the famous Vedikettu which marks the end of the main part of the festivity. For those of you who haven't heard, or haven't visited or would just like to know what this famous festival is all about, I'll write briefly about this festival.

Thrissur Pooram 2012, As Paramekkavu Bhagavathi's procession exits Paramekkavu Temple to slowly proceed towards the Famous Elanji Thara melam.

The Contenders
Ask anyone what Thrissur Pooram is all about and I'm sure almost everyone are going to shout out Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu. Thrissur pooram among other beliefs is considered as the meeting of Thiruvambady Bagavathi with Paramekkavu Bagavathi. The meeting takes place at Thekkinkaddu Maidanam surrounding the Vadakunnathan temple on the Pooram day in the Malayalam month of Medam which lies between the second half of April and first half of May. Thrissur pooram starts of with small processions called Cheru Pooram from eight of the nearby surrounding temples starting early in the morning and ending at Vadakunnathan Temple by the mid of the day. By then Thiruvambady would have started it's procession, initally with 3 elephants to the Thekke Madam, where the Irakki Vechu Pooja  takes place followed by the famous Madathil Varavu. This is  accompanied by Panchavadhyam towards Vadakunnathan Temple. By mid-day Paramekkavu Bhavathi also exits and enters Vadakunathan for the famous Elanjithara Melam which is Pandi Melam. By the start of early evening Paramekkavu exits on the south side of the temple followed by Thiruvambady where the legendary Kudamattam takes place. This is the celebrated meeting of both the Bagavathis where the people enjoy with the display of Kudas on the elephants on either side. The competitive mood engulfs people witnessing it both at the location and those watching from the comforts of their homes. Taking sides and judging each of the display of umbrellas. As darkness falls both of the temples' Devis retreat to their temples still with the melam and people accompanying it!  By midnight both of the temples' Devis again exit their temples coming towards the Naikkanal and Manikandanal Pandal on either side of the Thekkinkadu Maidanam. All except one elephant carrying the Bagavathi stand under the pandal and the Swaraj Round encircling the Thekkinkadu Maidanam gets filled with people to witness the fireworks. Within the city limitations this fireworks is the best of all Poorams put together. This marks the end of Thrissur Pooram for all those who came from far and wide, the guests.

The next day both the Bagavathis meet outside the Vadakunnathan Temple for the event known as Vidachollal where the elephants literally salute each other signifying that they'd meet the next year. This part is known as Thrissurkarude Pooram also due to the fact that most of the guests and crowd would have left. The next date for Pooram is announced and both of them return commencing the end of the festival and life returns to normal by mid-day that day with little traces left of what had occured the previous 36 hours.

Significance
Thrissur Pooram has something to offer for everyone and thus attracts people from all communities alike. Thrissur Pooram is a perfect example where the religions boundries melt as the people join to enjoy as one. It is the one day where anyone is allowed entry to Vadakunnathan Temple without any religious limits. It is also seldomn known that the Thrissur Pooram is funded by communities of other religion contribute more than our community. Thrissur pooram is so much influenced all over that replicas of this festival is held at other places both within and outside the state. UNESCO has given the title "The Most Spectacular Festival Event of The Planet". All in all it's one spectacular event that everybody have to witness at least once in their lifetime!