Arattupuzha: the village, its temple and its Pooram

Kodiyettam, the flag. The whole village gathers in front of the temple. An areca palm is prepared as the flag mast. One of the Uralans, the traditional owners of the temple, performs a ritual tilling of the field where the festival will take place, and returns to the temple on an elephant to the sound of percussion. The flag mast is then raised, and the Pooram has formally begun. Here and in several other ceremonies of the festival you can see traces of the warfare of an earlier age.

Thiruvathira Vilakku. Purappadu is the ceremony in which the deity sets out from the temple. For Shasthavu it happens on the day of Thiruvathira. At 2:00 am the idol is brought out of the sanctum to the sound of Paani, a percussion reserved for the most important religious occasions, mounted on an elephant, and taken out with five elephants and a melam (a percussion orchestra) that goes on until dawn.

Thaikkattussery Pooram. After the Vilakku, the deity rides an elephant, with minimal percussion, to Thaikkattussery, nearly 10 km away, where the Bhagavathy (the Goddess) is celebrating the festival of her own temple. After the ritual offerings, he returns to Arattupuzha.

Peruvanam Pooram. Three days before the main Pooram, Shasthavu goes to Peruvanam. This was originally the Valiya Vilakku, the main episode of the twenty-eight-day festival centred on the Peruvanam temple. Today the Peruvanam temple and its deity play no direct part in the festival, but Peruvanam Pooram is still a large occasion, with the deities of the neighbouring temples holding their own festivals around it, and Arattupuzha's Shasthavu has a major role. He arrives at about 6:00 pm, enters the temple by the southern gate and leaves by the eastern gate. There, facing east with seven elephants, a Pandi Melam begins.

Tharakkal Pooram. Literally the Pooram on the floor, this is held on the eve of the main Pooram, partly for the benefit of the villagers, who will be too busy with visitors on the day itself to take part in it. Shasthavu comes out of the temple with nine elephants and stands facing south. A Pandi Melam then plays for the next three hours, and the evening ends with a firework.

Pooram day. The village waits all year for this day, and it is also a time of reunions, as most of those who have left return for it. The day begins not in Arattupuzha but across the river in Thottippal, where the Thottippal Bhagavathy goes out in procession with five elephants and a Panchari melam. Shasthavu visits her temple as an honoured guest and returns in the afternoon.

The main Pooram. As the sun sets over the western end of the paddy fields, the deity comes out of the temple. Of the two kinds of melam most often played, Panchari and Pandi, Panchari is considered the more classical, and the Arattupuzha Panchari holds a special place among lovers of the art across Kerala. It is played before Shasthavu, who is accompanied by fifteen elephants. Thousands come from all over India and abroad. The procession lasts about four hours, and ends with a firework.

Triprayar Thevar arrives. The guest of honour, Lord Sri Rama of the Triprayar temple, reaches the village in the small hours of the night, welcomed by another firework and a Panchavadyam.

Koottiyezhunnallippu. Once Triprayar Thevar has taken his place at the western end of the paddy field, the Goddesses of Urakam and Cherpu and Chathakkudam Shasthavu join him, and a procession of seventy or more elephants begins to fill the whole field. To many this is the most important and auspicious event of all the festivals in Kerala, and people come to see it whatever their age or health. It takes place in the early hours, and as the sun rises in the east the procession moves towards it.

Arattu. The Arattu, the ritual bath, is the ceremony the village is named after. All the Goddesses who have come to the festival go to the river for their ceremonial dip, and it is considered very auspicious to bathe in the river along with them. Hundreds do each year. It starts at 2.00 am, Kadalasseri Pisharikkal Bhagavathy always the first goddess to start the ceremony as her presence (immersion of the idol) is believed to sanctify the waters. And Triprayar Thevar concludes the Arattu, the last deity to perform the ceremony, well after sunrise.

Upacharam, the farewell. After the Arattu comes the closing ceremony. Shasthavu, the host, waits to receive each of his guests as they come to pay their respects, and the greetings between the deities, carried by elephants, follow set protocols. Depending on their standing, he accompanies some of them part of the way as they leave for their own temples. The last to come is Triprayar Thevar, and this greeting has a special meaning: the Shasthavu of Arattupuzha is considered to be the sage Vasishtha, and Sri Rama is his most illustrious disciple. Teacher and pupil go through their rituals, and the teacher accompanies his pupil part of the way and says his last farewell. The date of the next year's Pooram is announced at this point, and the pupil promises that he will come. The festival is over, and the villages begin the wait for the next one.