For someone outside India, the perception of Indian culture might revolve around saffron-wearing monks, cows given utmost respect or worshiped as god, or holy rivers and mountains like the Ganges or Himalayas. However, the truth is that the Indian culture and the way of practicing the hindu religion varies significantly across the length and breadth of the country. Kerala, a small southern Indian state, can give you quite a unique cultural experience.
One great way to explore Kerala culture is by attending the summer temple festivals locally called Utsavam, pooram, or Vela. The Thrissur Pooram, held in the city of Thrissur (known as the cultural capital of Kerala), is called the festival of all festivals owing to its grandeur and popularity!
Can't Help But Go!
It’s a scorching summer day and after hours of waiting in the middle of such a scary huge crowd, Seeing the elephants and Vadhya (percussion) artists arriving at the Kudamattam spot gave me a huge relief. With such a huge crowd of tens of thousands of humans between them, as many as Fifteen elephants occupied their position on both ends, and the men sitting atop the embellished tuskers began displaying the dazzling umbrellas while the percussion artists made melodious music that synced very well with the majesticness of the elephants and the beauty of the parasols displayed atop them. Each time the artists displayed a whole new type of parasol, the crowd cheered with so much energy that one could even sense a kind of wave propagating through it.
Me meanwhile, being stuck in such a huge crowd, was struggling hard to breathe. For my bad, I occupied a position really close to the elephants where more and more people were trying to enter making the crowd even more immense. The crowd was so huge and with only so much oxygen available, it was becoming harder and harder for me to breathe. I was on the verge of passing out and somehow wanted to get out of the crowd. Gathered all the strength I had, pushed other men sideways and somehow made it out of the crowd. For the first time ever, breathable air felt more precious than anything else in the world!
Well, considering the near death experience i had last year, one might guess that i wouldn't dare to attend the festival ever again. But weird or not, the desire to attend the ‘festival of festivals’ has just grown and despite the fact that I'm now living in another state, i can' help but attend it again this year. Like, how can someone afford to miss the magnificent ambience created by all those majestic elephants, beautiful percussion melodies, grand midnight fireworks and above all, that delightful feeling of being one among almost a million humans gathered there?
What to Expect
Well, it's all about your taste as an explorer. For someone enthusiastic about Indian culture or Hinduism, poorams/ festivals are another way to experience it from a different perspective than what North India offers. The culture, even the hindu rituals are different here in the southern part of India compared to the north.
Here is a brief portrait of what you can expect to experience by visiting the Thrissur Pooram or the summer temple festivals of Kerala in general:
1.Melodious Melam Concussions: Personally speaking, percussion performances (Melam) are what I like the most about the temple festivals of kerala. The major instrument of a traditional melam is Chenda which resembles a Drum, the difference being the material used which in case of Chenda is wood.
Along with chenda, the troop of artists would also have a number of other instruments including special kinds of traditional flutes (kuzhal) and ilathalam! The way the artists perform it for hours without compromising on the energy and quality of the music is simply amazing.
2. Elephants!
Embellished elephants are an integral part of temple festivals in Kerala, especially in the central part including Thrissur. The presence of these majestic creatures add to the grandeur of festivals.
3. Midnight fireworks
Fireworks are another integral part of temple festivals in Kerala and the origin has some cultural significance as well. During thrissur pooram, there will be competitive fireworks between the two rival sides i.e Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu. Both sides would be in a healthy competition to create the best display of lights and colors in the sky of the city!
While the thrissur pooram and most other festivals have night fireworks where they focus more on the beauty of the colors and patterns, some other festivals have the fireworks held in the day time that focuses more on the intensity and power of explosions!
4. Kudamattam
Kudamattam translates to ‘changing of Umbrellas’ and as the name suggests, it's when the two sides display different varieties of decorated parasols atop tuskers. During Thrissur pooram, as many as 30 elephants, two rows of 15 elephants facing each other, would take their position and artists would display one type of decorated parasols after another.
The design of the parasols might be anything, ranging from that of a simple umbrella shape to the shape of anything of contemporary relevance. In 2023 for instance, the parasols with the theme of Messi and the world cup victory of the Argentine Football team gained the biggest ovation from the audience.
A Brief History!
Attended by more than a million people every year, the Thrissur Pooram is the most iconic of all the temple festivals in kerala. It is held on the ‘Pooram’ day of the ‘Medam’ month of the Kerala traditional calendar. The festival has a history tracing back to as many as 230 years initiated by Shakthan Tampuam, one of the most popular rulers of the Cochin Kingdom.
The thrissur pooram is basically the ultimate meetup of smaller festivals held in temples around the city, the two major temples being Paramekkav and Thriuvambady. Before the beginning of Pooram in the 1700s, all temple festivals held in the region were used to unite at Arattupuzha, which is located 30 kilometers south of Thrissur town. Due to certain conflicts, temples in the City decided to conduct their own festivals as per the wish of the then ruler ‘Shakthan Thampuram’. That is how the festival of festivals, thrissur pooram, began to be held every year!
Kerala, the Land of Festivals!
Speaking of the Arattupuzha festival that I’ve Mentioned above, the festival is still being held every year and in some aspects, it is even bigger than Thrissur Pooram itself. The major highlight of the Arattupuzha festival is the presence of more than 60 elephants and ceremonies lasting days. The Arattupuzha festival is held on the ‘pooram’ day of the meenam month of Kerala calendar, which comes one month before Thrissur pooram.
Besides the Arattupuzha festival, there are a handful of other festivals that are bigger than the thrissur pooram in certain aspects. For example, the Nenmara Vela, held at a village temple located 4o kilometers east of Thrissur, is another festival worth attending. The midnight fireworks of this festival are so huge and perhaps are the grandest fireworks held in Asia.
Uthralikavu is another temple located at a very serene village around 30 kms north of thrissur. The temple also hosts a festival every year on the pooram day of the malayalam month of kumbam, which comes exactly two months before the thrissur pooram.
While all these festivals are famous for the elephants, umbrella exchange ceremonies, and midnight fireworks, we have festivals famous for the monstrous daytime fireworks. Kavassery pooram, held on the same date as the Arattupuzha pooram (or a month before the thrissur pooram) is a famous day time temple festival. The kavassery daytime fireworks are so huge that it's more of an explosion than fireworks. The temple is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Thrissur.
Still Lot More to Explore in Kerala
Besides these popular temple festivals, hundreds of other temples in and around Central Kerala host such festivals every year between the months of February and May. Though we have talked about the poorams, utsavams and Velas that are held in central Kerala during summer, Kerala does have even more kinds of temple festivals with entirely different themes and cultural significance. The Kottankulangara festival is famous for men dress up in feminine attire, the temples of northern kerala are famous for ‘Theyyam’ where spirituality turns fearsome and mysterious, and the list goes on! Churches across the state also organize festivals that somewhat resembles the temple festivals all while being unique in their own way!
