Pooram Kuli-Aarattu Festival in Veerabhadra temple-Cheruvathur-Kasarkod District-Kerala-India

Ārāttu () is an annual ritual performed during

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 ...

temple festivals 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 ...

, India, in which a priest bathe the idol of a

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

by dipping it in a river or a

temple tank Temple tanks are wells or reservoirs built as part of the temple complex near Indian temples. They are called pushkarini, kalyani, kunda, sarovara, tirtha, talab, pukhuri, ambalakkuḷam, etc. in different languages and regions of India. Some t ...

. It is mainly carried out at the end of a temple festival. ''Ārāttu'' is celebrated twice annually—the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

festival (March - April) and the

autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

festival (October - November). A festival normally lasts 10 days.

Major festivals

One of the important Arattu in

is conducted at

Padmanabhaswamy Temple The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala, India. The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Tamil and Malayalam translates to "The City of Lord Ananta" (The City ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

by Travancore royal family, procession is carried out to

Shankumugham Beach Shankumugham Beach is a beach in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, south India. The beach is on the western side of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and is very close to Trivandrum International Airport. The vast stretch of white sand an ...

for the ceremony.Arattu at Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple 2013
/ref> The operations at the

Trivandrum International Airport Thiruvananthapuram International Airport , is an international airport which serves Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the state of Kerala and fifth international airport of In ...

stops twice a year for the procession to pass through the runway to the Shankumugham Beach. At

Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Swamy Temple Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Swamy Temple is an Indian Hindu temple dedicated to Krishna at Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha district of Kerala. The temple is believed to have been built during 15th century AD by the local ruler Chembakasserry Pooradam ...

, the festival starts with a flag hoisting, after bathing the deities, ''ambalappuzha palpayasam'' (a sweet pudding) is offered to the gods. The eight-day long festival at

Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple Sree Poornathrayesa temple (in Malayalam: ) is a Hindu temple situated in Tripunithura, Kochi, the capital of the former Kingdom of Cochin, Kerala, India. The temple is considered among the greatest temples in Kerala and was the first among ...

Thrippunithura Thrippunithura or Tripunithura (), is a prominent historical and residential region in the City of Kochi in Kerala, India. Located about 7 km (4 mi) from the city centre, Tripunithura was the capital of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin ...

is concluded with an ''aaraattu''.

In popular culture

A 1979 Malayalam film directed by

I. V. Sasi Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (28 March 1947 – 24 October 2017), better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 110 films predominantly in Malayalam, in addition to Tamil and Hindi languages. In 2015, he was awarded the J. ...

was titled ''

Aarattu Ārāttu () is an annual ritual performed during Hindu temple festivals in Kerala, India, in which a priest bathe the idol of a deity by dipping it in a river or a temple tank. It is mainly carried out at the end of a temple festival. ''Ār� ...

'', and a 2021 film directed by

B. Unnikrishnan Unnikrishnan B (born 14 August 1970) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, distributor and exhibitor who works in the Malayalam film industry. Early life Unnikrishnan. B. was born on 14 August 1970 in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala, I ...

also use the same title, both the films are otherwise unrelated to the ritual.

References

Culture of Thiruvananthapuram Hindu festivals in Kerala {{reli-festival-stub

Major festivals

In popular culture

See also

References