Thrissur Pooram തൃശ്ശൂർ പൂരം

Calculated for Thiruvananthapuram with sidereal (Lahiri) positions. Temple and devaswom announcements take precedence.

How the date is fixed

The main Pooram falls on the day of the Pooram nakshatra in the month of Medam (April to May). The official schedule, including the sample fireworks and the flag hoisting a week earlier, is announced by the Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu devaswoms. The date shown here is calculated from the star and should match their announcement, but the devaswom notice is final.

Origins

The festival was organised in its present form in the late eighteenth century by Sakthan Thampuran, the ruler of Cochin. The story goes that several temples were turned away from the older Arattupuzha Pooram because of heavy rain. He brought the temples around Thrissur together to hold their own festival at the Vadakkunnathan temple.

The two sides

Two groups share the festival. Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu each field caparisoned elephants, percussion ensembles and fireworks, and each tries to outdo the other. Eight smaller temples, the ghataka pooram, also arrive through the day.

Highlights

• Madathil Varavu: a panchavadyam ensemble of timila, maddalam, ilathalam, idakka and kombu, performed in the morning.
• Elanjithara Melam: a pandi melam of more than two hundred chenda and other artists, played under the elanji tree inside the temple compound.
• Kudamattam: in the evening the two sides face each other on the maidan and change the parasols on their elephants in rapid rounds.
• Vedikettu: the main fireworks display in the early hours of the next morning.

If you are going

Thrissur fills up days in advance. Hotels near Swaraj Round sell out early, road access is restricted on Pooram day, and the crowds on the maidan are very dense.

Questions