Lok Sabha elections 2024: Festival transcending faith and ideology

The march of bejeweled tuskers beats of percussionists and a unique experience When faith and ideologies make way for this grand spectacle at the Thrissur Pooram festival politicians also try to blend in The fest biggest of its kind in Asia commenced on Friday and will conclude on SaturdayThe 36hour festival held at the Thekkinkadu Maidan is secular and brings together people from all religions and communities in the festivities Thrissur constituency has almost 47 percent of its population comprising Christians and MuslimsCandidates join PooramThrissur BJP candidate Suresh Gopi Congress candidate K Murleedharan and CPM candidate Sunil Kumar were at the Pooram since early morning Shivprasad K B Thrissur district committee member of BJP said ldquoGopi visited the Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna Temple at 530 am and made offerings to the divine He also made arrangements for providing kanji rice porridge freely Besides 2000 water bottles were distributed for on duty policemen through his late daughter Laxmi Suresh Gopi Trust He then proceeded to the BJP party office in Thrissur to attend an internal organisational meetingrdquoBejeweled tuskers march during the Pooram festivalldquoCongress candidate K Murleedharan and his supporters were at Pooram since morning and will be there till late in the nightrdquo said his party member Abilash And so was Sunil Kumar of CPM who is a popular candidateInterestingly local residents in Thrissur say ldquoWe have three good candidates to contest from this constituency only on June 4 we will come to know the real winner and the candidate who makes it to the Parliament in Delhi until then for every supporter their candidate is the predecided winnerrdquo Study on Pooram elephants and mahoutsGopala Krishnan 68 who is originally from Vadakkencherry Palakkad had come all the way from Chennai to take part in Thrissur Pooram Krishnan who used to work in Mumbairsquos Indira Dock used to stay in Chembur and post retirement he shifted to ChennaiKrishnan has made extensive study about Pooram elephants and the mahouts across Kerala and even documented the same in a book format His focus of work was on the elephants and mahouts from the pages of historyTuskers and their mahouts at the Pooram festival of ThrissurPooram festivalAccording to Gopala Krishnan ldquoThe Thrissur Pooram is a resplendent festival celebrated with a grand display of bejeweled caparisoned elephants dazzling parasols and the sounds and beats of the percussion music It is a magnificent spectacle merging the spiritual and cultural essence of Kerala It is celebrated in the Malayalam month of medam AprilMayrdquoPooram HistoryldquoThe festival was the idea of then Maharajah of Cochin Santhana Thampuran 17901805 The festival has its genesis when incessant rains led to temples in Thrissur unable to participate in the Arattupuzha Poorammdasha oneday festivalrdquo he saidldquoThe temple groups complained to Thampuran who it is said decided to challenge the ban by starting Thrissur Pooram on the Pooram day in the month of May in the same year He invited temples with their deities to Thrissur to pay obeisance to VadakkunnathanShivamdashthe presiding deity of the Vadakkunnathan temple Deities of 10 temples participate in the Pooram festivities viz Thiruvambadi Paramekkavu Naithalakkavu Ayyanthole Karumukku Lalur Choorakkattukara Chembukkavu Kanimangalam and Panamukkumpallyrdquo recalled Gopala KrishnanldquoBe it left right or even left or right of centre political parties there is no discordant tone during the Pooram festivities It is the statersquos festivalmdashreligion and political affiliations donrsquot have a bearing on the festivitiesrdquo he saidBut these party differences only emerge and are vibrant in the campaign Today and tomorrow it is about Thrissur Pooram and its main characters of elephants percussion instruments and firecrackers And the grand sadya traditional feast given to everyone who wants to partake of it on the temple groundsrdquo said a local residentKids excitedldquoThere are so many of them elephantshere I love looking at themrdquo said Antony Tom fiveyearold who was brought to the temporary elephant enclosure made in an open ground on the back side of Paramekkavu Bagavathi templeMy son loves Elephants and spends most of the time watching the National Geographic channel He is able to differentiate Asian elephants with African Bush Elephants As it wonrsquot be possible to get him Antony on Pooram day April 19 to watch the elephants from the close proximity due to large public turn over we decided to get him to the elephant enclosure a day before April 18Thursday the Pooram said his father Tom Antony a resident of Guruvayur with his son Antony 5 who is fond of ElephantsFor tenyearold Aiyana 10 a class five student who was accompanied by her grandmother Seeta Ravindran said ldquoThe elephants look beautiful they resemble lord Ganesha and I am fond of themrdquo she saidSeeta said ldquoOn day of Pooram the entire entry and exit roads are closed for vehicular moments as the public participates in the function and she was insisting on seeing the elephants so I got her to the elephant enclosurerdquoMahout speakOn Thursday Arun M A 31 from Mullasery Trisshur and Vipin from Kottayam both mahouts were busy giving bath to the elephant named Ganapati in a water tankWhen asked about the age of Ganapati Vipin the senior mahout said ldquoGanpati is 40year old and he is owned by a person named Bharat from Punkunnam Thrissur district Ganpati is very calm and is easy to handle and has been a regular participant in the Pooramrdquo the mahout said When asked the time that they need to give a bath to Ganapati they said ldquoGanpati likes to be in water for a long time We usually take two hours to give him a proper bathrdquo