Posted on 03/01/2010 6:49:39 PM PST by Steelfish
Millions of Women Throng Kerala Festival
Attendance at the festival has grown year after year
By John Mary Trivandrum, Kerala
India's southern state of Kerala may have hosted the largest gathering of women ever seen on the planet. Clad in traditional Kerala saris and bearing offerings of food, more than two million women - perhaps more - thronged the state capital Trivandrum on Sunday. The women braved searing heat to offer a special meal at the Attukal temple to Hindu goddess Bhagavathy - one incarnation of the potent goddesses Kali and Saraswati. Women howled shrilly, as is the custom at the culmination of this 10-day annual event, and they joined the chief priest in offering their earthenware pots overflowing with rice and jaggery - an unrefined sugar - to the presiding goddess.
They were seeking her blessing for the health and prosperity of their families - and the special meal, known as the pongala, was later distributed among family and friends back at home. Women howl shrilly as they make their offering This is a unique festival the size of which is unmatched - the congregation at Attukal temple has grown exponentially over the years.
Such festivities used to be modest affairs and the annual gathering was confined to the temple premises until about 25 years ago. But once families associated with the temple formed a trust, the festival became more organised, there was more publicity and it attracted women from across the state and even foreign countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Emotions and blinded passions directed at a false godess who neither hears them nor can help them. I pray the truth they seek is revealed to them by the true God Almighty One Jehovah King of the universe and Jesus Christ the true messiah.
Only fifty portable toilets. No wonder they were howling.
Yea, whatever.
She is one aspect of the great Mother, Kali.
Oops, my bad...I just realized it said Millions of Women Throng Kerala Festival......embarrassing...
I'm curious. Where did you find the Lotus heart? (Saraswati is a consort of the Bodhisatva Manjushri)
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