Attukal Bhagavathy Temple

The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple lies in Attukal, about two kilometres from the Padmanabhaswamy Temple and East Fort in Thiruvananthapuram. Its goddess, Attukal Amma, is identified with Bhadrakali, seated on a vetala, and with Kannagi, heroine of the Tamil epic Cilappatikaram. Temple legend says the goddess appeared as a young girl to the head of the Mulluveettil family at the Killi River and later asked in a dream to be enshrined in a nearby sacred grove; another tradition says Kannagi rested here after the burning of Madurai.

The temple is known above all for Attukal Pongala, held in the month of Kumbham (February–March). On the ninth day of the ten-day festival, millions of women cook pongala, rice with jaggery, coconut and ghee, in small pots in the open as an offering to the goddess; the gathering is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest of women for a religious purpose. Navaratri, Vinayaka Chathurthi and Sivarathri are also celebrated.