Puthur vela occupies a very significant place among the festivals of Kerala.The temple rituals and festivities have made this event gain a class of its own. 15 beautifully caparisoned elephants,the best available in Kerala and world renowned artists of percussion music add to the grandeur of this festival.
The celebrations of the Puthur vela commence on the first Friday of the Malayalam month of meenam(March-April)every year with the ritual of kodiyettam.(hoisting of the temple flag). The festivities come to a end on the last Friday of the same month with the ritual of thalapoli. The most important ritual that is performed every year during this time is the tholpavakoothu. Through this very rarely performed shadow puppetry the story of Ramayana is recited to the Devi who is very pleased to hear it in this manner.
On the last day of the festival(thalapoli) people in tens and thousands throng the temple precincts to watch the 15 magnificent, caparisoned elephants and the colourful exchange of umbrellas atop them to the tune of the panchavadyam performed by renowned artists. The chendamelam,thayambaka and pandi melam also are great crowd pullers. Of this pandimelam, performed under the temple banyan tree is the highlight of the thalapoli day. It is watched by enthusiastic crowd in thousands coming from far and near. As a part of the month long celebration kerala’s very own art forms like kathakali, cnangiarkoothu, krishnanattam, theyyam, ottanthullal, kanyarkali, chakyarkoothu and the like get staged in the temple.
The music and dance festival staged as part of this festival has by now created a niche for itself in the cultural calendar of kerala.Many renowned artists like K.J. Yeshudas,Hari Prasad Chaurasia,Pt.Shivkumar Sharma,Hariharan etc.have humbly performed in the presence of the divine Mother.The celebrations of 2009 start on March 20th with kodiyettam and conclude on April 11th with vela and thalapoli.
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