Pardon this digression. The whole of Kerala is in a holiday, festive mood
!
Now you can watch Trichur Pooram Live at
http://www.keralaheritages.com
The constellation of Delta Leonis is known as Pubba or Pooram, one of the 27
constellations which tenant the Ecliptic. There are more than one million
temples in Kerala. Several temple festivals occur on the Lunar Asterism of
their inception.
The famous Trichur Pooram occurs on the Pubba day of
Mesha or Delta Leonis
in the sidereal month of Aries. More than 500,000
people witness this
Festival of all Festivals. It is of 36 hours duration
and it is one of the
most beautiful sights in the world, according to
UNESCO.
More than 50 caparisoned elephants pass through the center of
Trichur Town ,
the Lord Shiva Temple.
Earlier the Pooram was at
Arattupuzha and it so happened that the Chief of
Peruvanam Gramam denied
entry to the temples of Trichur. This enraged the
Naduvazhis of Trichur and
the then ruler, Shaktan Tampuran, integrated all
the ten temples around the
central Lord Shiva Temple, Vadakkunnathan (
situated at a hillock ) and
created this Grand Pooram. Tampuran created
two Groups, the Eastern and the
Western. The Eastern group was called as
Paramekkavu, consisting in addition
to Paramekkavu temple, Karamukku,
Chembukavu, Choorakottukavu and
Panamukkamppilly. The Western group was
Thiruvambady consisting of
Kanimangalam, Laloor, Ayyanthole, Nethilakkavu
and the Thiruvambady
temple.
This Pooram is centered around the Lord Shiva temple at the
Center, as all
the ten deities pay obeisance to the Shiva, the central
presiding deity.
Shaktan Tampuran chalked out the program and the main
events of this
Glorious Festival. In Kudamattom, that is changing of colored
umbrellas this
year, techonology was used. LED umbrellas were used and it
was a glorious
sight at seven pm. 15 caparisoned elephants of the Eastern
Group faced the
15 elephants of the Western Group.
The Ten
Participating Temples
Along with the main Paramekkavu Temple
&
Thiruvambady Temple in Trichur
Kanimangalam Sastha Temple at Kanimangalam,
Pookkattikkara
Karamukku Bhaghavathy Temple at Karamukku near
Chiyyaram,
Choorakkottukavu Bhagavathy Temple at Choorakkattukara,
Laloor
Bhaghavathy Temple at Laloor,
Sree Karthyayani Temple at
Ayyanthole,
Nethilakkavu Bhagavathy Temple at Neithilakkavu near
Kuttoor,
Chembukkavu Bhagavathy Temple at Chembukkavu and
Panamukkumpally
Sastha Temple at Panamukkampilly near East Fort Thrissur