Thrissur: Creating wonders of sound, music and colour, Thrissur Pooram on Monday mesmerised tens of thousands of Pooram buffs and devotees who thronged Thrissur from near and far.
Starting with eight small poorams taken out from different temples in and around the town converging on Vadakkumnathan Temple in the centre of Thekkinkad Maidan at the heart of the city in the morning and the major participants Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu Devaswoms setting off for Madathil Varavu and pooram ezhunallippu, the spectators were served a visual treat of percussion, parade of caparisoned elephants with colourful par-asols and raising rhythms of pandi, chembada mel-ams and panchavadhy-ams.
The melams taken out with the accompaniment of caparisoned elephants donning ‘nettipattams’ on their forehead of the constituent ‘cherupoorams’ set the tone for the major events of percussion like Madathil Varavu Panchav-adyam of Thiruvambadi Devaswom led by Kongad Madhu which was taken over by melam maestro Kizhakkoottu Aniyan Marar at Nayakanal and culminated at Sree Moolasthanam in front of Vadakkumnathan Temple.
Keeping alive the centuries-old tradition of Pooram, by 7 3.0 am the Thiruvambadi Bhagava-thi started its journey atop an elephant to Naduvil Madom, situated west of Thekkinkkad Maidan.
After the ‘erakki ezhunallippu’ at the Madom, at 11 am the much-awaited treat of panchavadyam led by Kongadu on thimila began with Madathil Varavu ceremony.
Meanwhile, the team of percussionists led by maestro Padmasree Peruvanam Kuttan Marar started playing ‘chembada’ on ‘chenda’ in front of Paramekkavu Temple for the ‘ezhunallippu’ of the Paramekkavu Bhagavathy for the pooram.
By 2.30 pm, several hundreds of percussion enthusiasts crowed the pandal set up for conducting Ilanjithara Melam of Paramekkavu near the Western Entrance Tower of Vadakkumnathan Temple.
Starting with ‘pathithalam’ and ending in ‘adichu kalasam’ Peruvanam, who led the ‘pandi melam’ for the 21st time for Thrissur Pooram along with nearly 300 percussionists played on different percussion instruments invoking the real spirit of pooram.
Through the ups and downs of the beating of ‘chendas’, the audience got charged up with the ‘thalam’ throwing their arms in the frenzy. The melam ended at 4.30 pm.
Percussion maestro Parakkad Thankappan led the panchavadhyam of Paramekkavu during the procession at night with hundreds of enthusiasts turning up.
The most colourful event, Kudamattam, was held from 6.15 to 7.15 pm in front of the Southern Gopuram of Vadakkumn-athan which was pushed open by star elephant Thechikottukavu Ramach-andran on the pooram eve.
The grand fireworks and pyrotechnics is expected to be conducted at 3 am on Tuesday
With the 'Upacharam Cholli Piriyal' (bidding farewell) by two pachyderms carrying the ‘thidambu’ of the goddess of Paramekkavu and Thiru-vambadi temples near the ‘Sreemoolasthanam’ of Vadakkunnathan, the 36-hour-long extravaganza will conclude at 2.30 pm on Tuesday
