Attukal Pongala

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram hosts the Pongala festival, recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest annual gathering of women for a religious purpose, with roughly 1.5 million counted in 1997 and 2.5 million in 2009. Over ten days in the Malayalam month of Kumbham, women across the city cook a sweetened rice offering, pongala, on open-air hearths lit in near unison on the ninth day.

In 1997, Guinness World Records recognized the Pongala day crowd at Thiruvananthapuram's Attukal Bhagavathy Temple as the largest gathering of women for a religious event anywhere, counting roughly 1.5 million participants; by 2009 the tally had grown enough for a second entry near 2.5 million, and organizers now estimate several million women take part each year.