Thrippunithura-Elephants-Panchavadyam-1 crop

Pooram pronounced is an annual

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

, which is celebrated in

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

s dedicated to goddesses

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around c ...

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tra ...

held especially in Valluvanadu area and other adjoining parts of north-central

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 ...

(Present

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated munici ...

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

Kasaragod Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala an ...

and

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of including the surrounding suburban areas. The first municipality in the district formed in 1970, Malappuram serves as the administrative headquarte ...

districts) after the summer harvest. Harimattom pooram is the one of the famous pooram in Ernakulam. An example of a famous pooram is Thirumandhamkunnu Pooram which has an active participation of 11 Lakh people across the country. Most pooram festivals have at least one ornately decorated

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

being paraded in the procession taken out of the temple precincts. However, there are some well known poorams, such as Anthimahakalankavu Vela,

Chelakkara Chelakkara is a small town in Thrissur district of Kerala. Geography Chelakkara is located at . It has an average elevation of . Politics Chelakkara assembly constituency (SC) is part of Alathur. It is also the constituency of ex-Speaker of ...

, Aryankavu Pooram at shoranur

and Machad mamangam near

Wadakkanchery 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 ...

that do not use the caparisoned elephant, instead go for stilted mannequins of horses or bullocks. Vela is also a festival like pooram.

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 ...

is the most famous of all poorams, known for fire works. The second best known Pooram in Kerala is Uthralikavu Pooram. Kavassery pooram is well known for fireworks during afternoon. Some other well-known pooram festivals are Arattupuzha-Peruvanam Pooram, Chalissery Pooram, Anthimahakalankavu Vela, Nenmara Vallangi Vela, Chinakathoor pooram, Mannarkkad Pooram, Kavassery Pooram, Pariyanampatta Pooram, Harimattom Pooram and Thirumandhamkunnu Pooram
Peruvanam-Arattupuza pooram
is celebrating its 1436th year in 2018.

Musical ensembles

melam Melam is a group of Maddalams and other similar percussion instruments' ( Chenda) rhythmic performance. Those who play melam are called 'Melakaar'. In ancient Tamilakam (Tamil country) melam was used for all the occasions in temples (''Kovil Mela ...

is a classical performance of different kind of musical instruments that are unique to

and is something akin to the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. The most traditional of all ''melam''s is called

Pandi Melam Pandi melam is a classical percussion concert or melam (ensemble) led by the ethnic Kerala instrument called the chenda and accompanied by ilathalam (cymbals), kuzhal and Kombu. A full-length Pandi, a melam based on a thaalam ( taal) with s ...

which is generally performed outside the temple, during the festival. Another kind of ''melam'' is called

Panchari Melam Panchari Melam is a percussion ensemble, performed during temple festivals in Kerala, India. Panchari Melam (or simply panchari), is one of the major forms of Chenda Melam (ethnic drum ensemble), and is the best-known and most popular in th ...

, which is similar to Pandi Melam going by the kind of instruments, but played inside the temple and following a different rhythmic beat.

Panchavadyam Panchavadyam (Malayalam: പഞ്ചവാദ്യം), literally meaning an orchestra of five instruments, is basically a temple art form that has evolved in Kerala. Of the five instruments, four — timila, maddalam, ilathalam and idakka ...

(''pancha'' in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

means five) is another classical

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists ...

performed in

. Here, five different kinds of instruments create a breathtaking and fastmoving percussion performance. The five instruments are

Madhalam The maddalam or madhalam (Malayalam: മദ്ദളം) मद्दलम , ମଦ୍ଦଳମ , మద్దళమ్ , ಮದ್ದಳಂ is a drum made out of the wood of the jackfruit tree. It has two sides for playing, made out of leat ...

Kombu ''Konbu'' (from ja, 昆布, konbu or kombu) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as ''dasima'' ( ko, 다시마) or ''haidai'' (). Kelp features in the diets of many ...

Edakka The ''idakka'' (), also spelt edaykka/edakka, is an hourglass-shaped drum from Kerala in south India. This handy percussion instrument is very similar to the pan-Indian damaru. While the damaru is played by rattling knotted cords against the res ...

Elathalam Elathalam, or Ilathalam, is a metallic musical instrument which resembles a miniature pair of cymbals. This instrument from Kerala in southern India is completely made out of bronze and has two pieces in it. Elathalam is played by keeping one ...

and

Timila Timila, thimila or paani, (Malayalam:തിമില) is an hour-glass shaped percussion instrument used in Kerala, South India. It is made of polished ''jackwood'', and the drumheads made of calfskin (preferably taken from 1- to 2-year-old ca ...

Thayambaka Thayambaka or tayambaka is a type of solo chenda performance that developed in the south Indian state of Kerala, in which the main player at the centre improvises rhythmically on the beats of half-a-dozen or a few more chenda and ilathalam pla ...

is a type of solo

chenda The Chenda ( ml, ചെണ്ട, ) is a cylindrical percussion instrument originating in the state of Kerala and widely used in Tulu Nadu of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in India. In Tulu Nadu (Coastal Karnataka), it is known as ''chende ...

performance that developed in the south

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n state of

, in which the main player at the centre improvises rhythmically on the beats of half-a-dozen or a few more chenda and

ilathalam Elathalam, or Ilathalam, is a metallic musical instrument which resembles a miniature pair of cymbals. This instrument from Kerala in southern India is completely made out of bronze and has two pieces in it. Elathalam is played by keeping one pa ...

players around.

Other attractions

Interesting attractions of Pooram can be seen in the Valluvanad and

Talappilly Thalapilly is one of the Taluks in Thrissur District of Kerala state, south India. Before AD 1860 the headquarters of the taluk was in Kunnamkulam. At present the headquarters of the Taluk is Wadakanchery. Kunnamkulam municipality, the Panchayat ...

region. There is the Harijan Vela or Parayar Vela as well as the Tholpavakoothu, a traditional shadow puppetry show. Harimattom Temple is situated near Tripunithura. just 7 km from there. The temple festival is started on Malayalam month Medam star UTTRAM. The main highlight of the festival is harimattom pooram which is on the 7th day of the festival. The main attraction of this pooram is kudamattam and famous pandimellam with the presence of most of the famous 10 elephants from Kerala. The one of the most important things is the Harimattom pooram and festival is conducting as per keeping the Kerala tradition, beliefs and culture.

Image gallery

External links

5 Year Festival CalendarPooram - Community Website
{{Tourism in Kerala Elephant festivals in Kerala Tourism in Kerala Hindu festivals in Kerala

Musical ensembles

Other attractions

See also

Image gallery

External links