Uthralikkavu Pooram (ഉത്രാളിക്കാവ്) is a festival held at Shri Rudhiramahakalikav (ശ്രീ രുധിരമഹാകാളികാവ്) temple situated at Wadakkanchery in Thalappilly taluk of Thrissur district in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

. The temple is famed for its Pooram festival held during February / March every year. It is considered as the second highest crowded pooram after

Thrissur Pooram The Thrissur ''Pooram'' is an annual Hindu temple festival held in Thrissur, Kerala, India. It is held at the Vadakkunnathan (Shiva) Temple in Thrissur every year on the ''Pooram'' (pronounced ) day—the day when the moon rises with the ''P ...

The temple

Uthralikkavu Temple is some two kilometres north of Wadakkanchery on the Kodungallore-Shoranur state highway. Just aside the Thrissur - Shoranur Railway line, amidst the paddy fields and surrounded by a chain of highlands and hills, the temple compound forms a rather arena-like stage where the Pooram and its associated features such as elephant procession, fireworks, percussion orchestra etc. would be held. Despite the fact that the temple is rather small in size compared to its counterparts in Kerala and that it is located at an isolated rural part of the district, during the festival season, the temple and the village raises to media attraction and news fame.

The festival

The Uthralikkavu festival is conducted during early summer every year. The festival flag-hoisting (kodiyettam കൊടിയേറ്റം) takes place on the second Tuesday of Kumbha (കുംഭമാസം), the month of the Malayalam Kollam era. (This is the same day that another important local festival, Machad Mamangam(മച്ചാട് മാമാങ്കം), takes place. Towards the end of following seven days, on next Tuesday, as part of the valedictory functions, the actual Pooram is conducted. Pooram is a Kerala

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

ritual festival in which generally caparisoned elephants are led in a controlled and organized procession. At Uthralikkavu Pooram, three teams, each from neighboring village temples

Enkakkad Enkakkad is a village in Thrissur district in the state of Kerala, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and ...

Kumaranellur Kumaranellur is a small Village/hamlet in Pattambi Taluk in Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It comes under Kappur Grama Panchayath. It is located 75 km westwards from District headquarters Palakkad, 48 km southwards from the neigh ...

and

Wadakanchery Wadakkancherry is a major town in Thrissur, Kerala. Up until 1860, this area was part of Chelakkara Taluk. Now, it is the headquarters of Talappilly Taluk. Wadakkanchery obtained municipality status from the government by merging with the Mu ...

participate. Each team normally presents seven to eleven elephants, all decorated with traditional trunk masks (netippaTTam നെറ്റിപ്പട്ടം), shields ( aalavaTTamആലവട്ടം) and fans( veNchaamaram വെൺചാമരം). The elephant positioned at the middle will also have a large plaque ( thiTamp തിടമ്പ് or

kOlam Kolam (,, ), also known as Muggu () or Tharai Aalangaram () Rangoli () is a form of traditional decorative art that is drawn by using rice flour as per age-old conventions. It is also drawn using white stone powder, chalk or chalk powder, often ...

കോലം)on its top which represents the deity. There are many festivals in kerala used to celebrate like this. Some of them are

, Nenmara Vallangi Vela, Arattupuzha pooram,

chinakathur pooram The Chinakkathoor Pooram is an elephant pageant which is held annually at the sacred Sree Chinakkathoor Bhagavathy Temple, at Palappuram in Palakkad district in north Kerala. A huge procession of 27 festooned tuskers is the highlight of the festiv ...

etc. Apart from the elephant procession, at Uthralikkavu, there also held are Kuthira Vela (a procession with wooden horse) and a variety of such other events dedicated by various communities. One of the crucial components of pooram is the set of percussion orchestra (Panchavadyam, Melam etc.). Particularly, 'naTappura' (നടപ്പുര) panchavadyam is a noteworthy session of percussion performance by the leading Panchavadyam artists of Central Kerala. ;Fireworks It is the second biggest fireworks after Nenmara Vallangi Vela. The most spectacular show during the Pooram is the magnificent and thunderous fireworks that takes place twice. One during the evening 4 pm on the pooram day and the other during the early morning hours of succeeding day (typically at 4:00 am). The fireworks is of a class of its own among such fireworks shows of Kerala temple festivals. The peculiar landscape (of being a low valley surrounded by many hills) adds extra reverberation and reinforcement to the already well-engineered explosive sounds produced. The show is enjoyed by tens of thousands of people gathered from various parts of the state. Nenmara Vallangi Vela is also celebrated like poorams and it is famous for the fireworks (Vedikkettu).

References

{{commonscat Festivals in Thrissur district Elephant festivals in Kerala