The 'Pongala' festival,recorded as the largest religious gathering of women in a single day by the Guinness world records, is expected to draw
more than 3 million women at the Aattukal Bhagavathi temple here on Saturday.
'Last year the turn out was slightly over 2.5 million.
This time it could exceed 3 million. Every year it has been going up,' temple secretary K P Ramachandran Nair told PTI.
'Pongala', which means 'to boil over' is a ritual of preparing a porridge of rice, sweet brown molasses, coconut gratings, nuts and raisins in fresh earthen pots on make-shift
brick hearths, which women offer to Goddess Bhagavathi,seeking blessings for prosperity.
Once a small village ceremony performed on the banks of Killiyar river in southern Indian state of Kerala, the festival has become a huge gathering over the passing years like the Sabarimala pilgrimage.
But unlike Sabarimala, which is primarily for men, Pongala is performed by women. However, there is no gender specifications for worshipping at the temple, situated on the southern periphery of Thiruvananthapuram in the state.
The legend has it that 'Pongala' commemorates the hospitality accorded by local women to mythical character Kannagi of Tamil epic 'Silappadikaram', while she was on her way to Kodungallur in central Kerala, where she is presently worshipped as incarnation of Goddess Bhagavathi.
A regular to the Pongala' since 1990s has been American academic Dianne Jennet, who has done a dissertation on the festival for the California
Institute of Integral Studies.
When reporters asked what brings her back here every year, she said "it is difficult to explain the experience.
During my first visit, I was amazed by such a large gathering of women and wondered why they were doing it. Now I desire to come every year."
According to temple authorities, elaborate arrangements have been made for hassle-free celebrations.
Police and other state agencies have geared up for crowd management and providing security for the event, they said.
The ritual would start at 10 in the morning with the chief priest of the temple lighting the hearth in the temple kitchen. It would be then passed on to the devotees who would use it to cook the porridge.
The ceremony would conclude in the afternoon with priests sprinkling the 'prasadams' (sacred offering) with holy water.