Information of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is a famous Hindu goddess temple of Kerala. It is one of the important temple of women hood in the gods own country. This temple has the highest number of women devotees to be visited in a temple and at its festival time compared to any other Hindu temple of India. The record of women's visiting this temple has crossed millions. It has got a great Epic myth behind its creation and is popular among Tamil peoples bordering Trivandrum and from Madurai District of Tamil Nadu State. Yearly once many Hindu women's take pilgrimage to this temple to get blessed by this Bhagavathy Amma and wish their desires come true after visiting this temple with devotion. This temple is divinely located at Attukal Village, Trivandrum District of Kerala State in India.

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple Religious Significance

This temple place where it is built is called the Attukal and this temple name is Bhagavathi Temple, hence the place name is added first and called it as Attukal Bhagavathy Temple by its local peoples. For Keralite women's it is an equivalent to Shabari Mala Pilgrim, since women's carry few fire woods and all materials to prepare for pongal to offer this goddess in her temple premises. She is considered as divine women as Kanaki of Shilapathikaram and also an incarnation of Parvathi Devi. She is also a powerful goddess since the ancient times and many Kerlites Hindus believed her to be the Divine Mother. For this she is named as Bhagavathi Amma for motherhood. This temple is open throughout the year and conducts 10 festivals in a year. It is always found filled with thousand of devotees every day. The daily temple rituals start from 4:30 AM and end by 8:30 PM. Its devotee can participate in general rituals or paid rituals according to their needs.

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple Mythology & History

As per Skanda Purana, the Kanaki left Madurai and she travelled towards Kerala and stopped at Attukal. She gave her divine appearance before an old man as a child form. She asked the old man to cross this river with his help after crossing the river this girl disappeared. The same night she came in to his dream and asked him to build a temple for her. The old man was so much inspired by this divine goddess and soon started to build a temple where the goddess informed to build by the old man. This later on gained popularity very soon and became a famous women's worship place in India.

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple Architectural Significance

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is built in the Dravidian temple architectural form. It is believed that since Kanaki is from Madurai and this temple might be consulted with Tamil architects to build here a temple for this goddess. This is a beautiful temple with a tiered tower having many miniature on its. These are painted colorful and looking like real characters on the entire tower. This is a compounded temple and has a welcome arch. Inside this temple there are many motifs and frescoes found on the walls and ceiling making this temple more divine. The Bhagavathi is kept in the sanctum sanctorum which is just below the main tower. She is seen in a seated position and is well ornate with silk dress and jewels. She will be always fond enlightened with the hanging fire lights from the chandeliers. There are also few new complexes built in Kerala temple style found inside this premises. It has got a very large porch for conducting ceremonies. This is a very rear temple to see in Kerala when compared to the traditional Kerala temples. Since it is colorful and has stone art value for its craftsmanship.

Festival at Attukal Bhagavathy Temple

The Pongal Festival is the important festival here. On this occasion majorly women's come to this temple in lakhs and participate in making Pongal a sweet dish to appease the goddess. The temple grounds and its nearby streets are filled with women's making pongal in traditional brick made fire place with clay post and fire woods along with Pongal ingredients. Many of them prepare this sweet item very gloriously. When this Pongul erupts out of the pot it means the Bhagavathi Amma has accepted her Pongal preparation and who is making this Pongal is blessed.