Navrathri Music Festival

Start Date: 08-10-2010

Venue: Navarathri Mandapam, Fort Palace Complex, Thiruvananthapuram

The Navrathri Music Festival is a nine day musical fiesta held in the state of Kerela. During these nine days the evenings of Thiruvananthapuram are filled with exquisite music and honeyed voices echoing in the atmosphere. This cultural, musical, festive fiesta is a remarkable experience for all visitors. People from all across the country gather here during these nine days to witness some of the best works in the field of Music, dance and entertainment.

 

The music festival usually features some of the exquisite kritis (compositions) of King Swathi Thirunal, the music maestro and former ruler of Travancore. This cultural fiesta is held every year in the month of September. The nine-day music festival is held at the Navarathri Mandapam, a pavilion beautifully decorated with flowers, located inside the East Fort in Thiruvananthapuram.

One can imagine the vivacity of this musical extravaganza as the magic of soulful music combined with sweet fragrance of sandalwood lingering in the air is ecstatic. In addition to the exemplary music styles displayed in the Navrathri Music festival, the venue has an indigenous acoustic (A remedy for hearing loss) technology in place. For this purpose, these are earthen pots, which are kept in place by means of coir ropes, with their mouths open down towards the ground. These pots are of different sizes and thickness with their mouths having different measurements. For the purpose of sound reflectors and to prevent echoes, they are kept at different angles

How to Reach there:

Nearest railway station: Thiruvananthapuram, about 1 km away

Nearest airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, about 6 kms away.

Paripally Gajamela

Introduction: 

Every celebration is regarded incomplete without the participation of elephants in Kerala. Elephants are worshipped as an incarnation of the elephant headed god Ganesha.

Elephants tamed in some of the temples in India bear the images of the gods in temple processions on some special days. Elephants hold important place as they have the privilege of escorting the numerous gods and goddesses.

In early days rich and affluent families in Kerala used to house an elephant and were considered a family member. The people of Kerala keenly observe elephant pageants on their special day.

 
Paripally Gajamela has the popular and unique elephant pageant that is held as a part of annual festival at Kodimootil Sree Bhadrakaali Temple in Paripally, Kerala.

The word ‘Gajamela’ is composed of two words- ‘Gajam’ and ‘Mela’. Gajam is another word for elephant in Malayalam and Mela means fair.

An annual elephant parade in which more than 50 elephants take part is held in Paripally town of Thiruvananthapuram on tenth day of the festival is very popular among masses.

The devotees dedicate the elephants at the temple of goddess Bhadrakali in the hope that it will bring in prosperity and affluence during the procession. The ritual is called ‘nerch’. The procession presents a spectacular view of a string of caparisoned elephants.

The pooram and vela festivals are the best events to gaze at the majestic tuskers in all their caparisoned brilliance. Mahouts atop Colourfully decked up elephants holding high tinseled silk parasols (muthukuda) and swaying white tufts (venchamaram) and peacock feather fans (aalavattom) to the rhythm of the temple orchestra.

The elephant pageant is accompained by the musical harmony of five traditional instruments (panchvadyam) which forms a passionate element of the kudamattam ritual (the synchronised changing of the parasols atop the tuskers). Cultural programmes are held every night all the way through the festival days.

Time for celebration:

One of the Kerala's most impressive temple festivals is Paripally Gajamela. The festival is celebrated every year in February-March. In 2010, the Gajamela will be held on 7th March.

Getting there:

Nearest railway station: Kollam which is about 23 Kms from Paripally.

Nearest airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is about 54 km from Paripally.

 

Thrissur Pooram

Pooram is the most colourful of all the temple festivals of Kerala. It is celebrated in Thrissur at Vadakkumnathan temple in the month of Medam (April) where the regaining deity is Lord Shiva. Situated on a hillock right in the centre of the city, the spaciously laid out 'kshetram' or temple attracts thousands of devotees from all over the land during the Pooram festival.

It is a magnificent spectacle with fireworks, umbrella showing competition and a splendid elephant procession.
   
The best elephants of the state from the various temples in Kerala are sent to Thrissur to participate in the Pooram festival.At 3' 0 Clock in the night spectacular display of fireworks begins. It lasts till 6' 0 clock in the morning. By afternoon the festival ends.

Thrissur Pooran, the pooram of all Poorams, falls in April every year. It is intrinsically a people's festival in all respects. It is different from other national festivals like the Kumbha Mela of Uttar Pradesh, the Vijayadashami pageantry of Mysore or the Rath Yatra of Orissa. Pooram is participated and conducted by people cutting across all barriers of religion and caste.

The unique catholic nature of Pooram could be traced to its genesis two centuries ago when Sakthan Thampuran (1751-1805), the very architect of Thrissur, became the ruler of the erstwhile state Kochi.

He took up the renovation of the Vaddakkannathan temple complex which was enclosed by high walls. The four massive gopurams of the temple have been ascribed to him. At a time when nobody would have dared to look straight at the almighty Namboodiris, Sakthan Thampuran stripped of their powers and took over the administrationof the temple that claimed an antiquity of more than three centuries.

It was he who made the sprawling Thekkinkadu Maidan the major venue of Thrissur Pooram. Again, he entrusted the onus of holdingthe festival to the two public temples- Tthiruvampadi and Paramekkavu temples that had never been under the control of the Namboodiris. He himself is said to have drawn up the 36-hour hectic schedule of the Pooram festival.

Thrissur Pooram, the mother of all temple festivals in the state, is essentially one of spectacles. The two devaswams- Thiruvampadi and Paramekkavu- explore and exploit every source at their command to make this annual festival a memorable one. It is celebrated with a colourful procession of caparisonedelephants, parasol exchanges; drum concerts, display of pyro-techniques and refreshing scenes of public participation.

During the festival season, Thrissur, popularly known as the temple town turns into a town of colour, music and mirth. The Pooram programmes extending about 36 hours begins with the ezhunellippu of the Kanimangalam Shasta in the morning and is followed by the ezhunnellippu of the other six minortemples on the Pooram Day.

The ezhunnellippu programme, which is considered to be a ritual symbolizing the visit of the Devi from the Paramekkavu and Thiruvambaditemples to the Vadakkunnathan temple. A major event of the Pooram festival is the Panchavadyam in which about 200 artistes from the disciplines of Thimila, Maddalam, Trumpet, Cymbal and Edakka participate.

Another major event of the pooram begins with the setting off of the 'Pandemelam'at noon in which about 200 artistes in the disciplines of drum, trumpets, pipe and cymbal participate. The grand finale of this festival of colour, music and fire works would be marked with a function of bidding farewell to the deities of the Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu Devaswams in front of the Western Gate of the Vadakkunnathan Temple.

A noteworthy feature of the pooram festival is the participation of large numbers of people andelephants . The pachyderms emerge out in all their regalia with newly fabricated caparisons. They make their way through the milling crowds drawn from all religions, castes and creed to the accompaniment of ecstatic percussion ensembles. The exhibition of the paraphernalia of elephant decorative, commonly known as 'Aana Chamayal pradarsanam', the spectacular show of 'Kudamattom' in which parasols of myriad numbers, designs and colours are exchanged by the people atop theelephants.

The Pooram festival is concluded with a spectacular fire works display, which is held in the wee hours of the day after the Pooram. The Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu Devaswams present many innovative patterns and varieties of fire works, which make spectators going into raptures. This famous and mighty exhibit of the magnificent display offireworks add to the popularity of the Pooram festival.
   
The most striking feature of the Thrissur Pooram is its very secular nature. The Muslim and Christian Communities actively take part in it and they play a very prominent role in the very conduct of the festival. Most of the pandals are the craftwork of the experts from the Muslim community.

For the two days of the festival, the CMS High School, owned by the North Kerala Diocese of CST Church and located on the western part of the Swaraj Round, becomes virtually the Headquarters of the Thiruvampadi Devaswam. The templeelephants are tied in the school compound. The 'Aana Chamaya pradarsanam' is also held here.

The parasols for the 'Kudamattom' are offered by the churches and their members. At a time when the secular fabric of the Indian Society is slowly disintegrating, one cannot be myopic to the relevance of Thrissur Pooram, the conduct of which should become worthy of emulation to other festivals in the country.