Thrissur Pooram is held on the day the star Pooram rises in the month of Medam, in the great open ground round the Vadakkunnathan temple. Two groups of temples, Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady, face each other with fifteen caparisoned elephants apiece. For thirty-six hours there is percussion, the changing of sequinned parasols on elephant-back, and before dawn the loudest fireworks in India. Kerala calls it the pooram of all poorams.
The story
The festival was devised around 1798 by Sakthan Thampuran, ruler of Cochin. The temples of Thrissur had been shut out of the older pooram at Arattupuzha after arriving late in heavy rain; he brought them together at his own capital and made a greater one.
It is a festival of the goddesses and Sastha of ten temples coming to pay their respects to Shiva. The host, Vadakkunnathan, takes no part and merely looks on.
പൂരങ്ങളുടെ പൂരം
The pooram of poorams
What Kerala calls it
How the day goes
- KodiyettamThe flag goes up seven days before.
- Madathil varavuThiruvambady's procession, with a panchavadyam of five instruments played by some two hundred musicians.
- Ilanjithara melamParamekkavu's pandi melam under the ilanji tree inside the temple, two hours and more of drums, cymbals and horns.
- KudamattamThe two rows of elephants face each other and the parasols held above them are changed in quick succession, each side trying to outdo the other.
- VedikkettuThe fireworks at three in the morning.
- Upacharam cholli piriyalAt noon next day the two goddesses take leave of each other until next year.
Why this date
Thrissur Pooram is the day in the solar month of Medam on which the star Pooram (Purva Phalguni) is present at sunrise.
Thrissur Pooram in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Monday | |
| 2027 | Saturday | |
| 2028 | Thursday | |
| 2029 | Wednesday | |
| 2030 | Sunday | |
| 2031 | Saturday |
More Kerala festivals
15 AprilVishuവിഷു
8 MayAkshaya Tritiyaഅക്ഷയ തൃതീയ
18 AugustChingam 1ചിങ്ങം ഒന്ന്
15 AprilSri Rama Navamiശ്രീരാമനവമി
14 JulySayana Ekadasiശയന ഏകാദശി
6 MarchMaha Shivaratriമഹാശിവരാത്രി
Where to see Thrissur Pooram
In Kerala
- Thekkinkadu Maidan, ThrissurKeralaThe sixty-acre ground round the Vadakkunnathan temple, where everything happens.
- Paramekkavu Bagavathi TempleKeralaOne of the two principal sides, east of the ground.
- Thiruvambady Sri Krishna TempleKeralaThe other side; its elephants' ornaments are shown to the public the evening before.
- ArattupuzhaKeralaThe older and still larger gathering of gods, a few weeks earlier, from which this festival broke away.
Across India
- MysuruKarnatakaThe other great elephant procession of the south, at Dasara.
- MaduraiTamil NaduThe Chithirai festival runs in the same weeks.
- PuriOdishaThe Rath Yatra, eastern India's great temple spectacle.