Attukal Devi Temple 360° Virtual Tour.
Watch and share the 360-degree virtual reality tour of the Attukal Devi Temple, Kerala and Attukal Pongala.
The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is a Hindu religious shrine at Attukal in Kerala, India. The main deity in this temple is Goddess Bhadrakali, mounted over ‘vethala’ . Bhadrakali is a form of Mahakali, who killed the demon king Daruka and is believed to be born from the third eye of Lord Shiva. ‘Bhadra’ means good and ‘Kali’ means goddess of time. So Bhadrakali is considered the goddess of prosperity and salvation.
Goddess Attukal Devi is the supreme mother of Bhaadrkali Devi (in Soumya aspect), the goddess of power and courage. She is often referred to as Kannaki, the heroine of Ilanko Adikal’s ‘Silapathikaaram’.
The temple is renowned for the annual Attukal Pongala festival, in which over three million women participate. A festival that has been figured in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the single largest gathering of women for religious activity, the Attukal Pongala continues to draw millions of women with each passing year.
Attukal Temple is situated near the heart of the city, 2 kilometres away from Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, East Fort in Thiruvananthapuram. Devotees believe that all of their wishes will be fulfilled by the goddess, provide prosperity and can attain salvation.
Attukal Devi is often worshipped in 3 forms such as Maha Saraswati (goddess of knowledge, arts, and language), Maha Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, auspiciousness, and power) and Mahakali / Parvathy (goddess of marriage, time, and death).
The mythology behind the temple relates to the story of Kannagi who was married to Kovalan, the son of a wealthy merchant. After marriage, Kovalan met a dancer Madhavi and spent all his riches on her forgetting his wife. But when he was penniless, he went back to Kannagi. The only precious thing left to be sold was Kannagi’s pair of anklets. They went with it to the king of Madurai to sell it. But an anklet was stolen from the Queen which looked similar to Kannagi’s. When Kovalan tried to sell it, he was mistaken for theft and beheaded by the king’s soldiers. Kannagi got infuriated when she heard the news and rushed to the King with the second pair of anklets.
Created by Leen Thobias P4Panorama
