Widely celebrated as the “Mother of all Poorams,” Thrissur Pooram is a 36-hour grand spectacle held annually at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in the Malayalam month of Medam. Established in 1798 by Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin, the festival was envisioned as a massive cultural gathering to unite ten neighboring temples into two competing groups. The event is world-renowned for its Kudamattom ceremony, where two rows of fifteen caparisoned elephants engage in a rhythmic and competitive exchange of vibrant, multicolored parasols. Accompanying the visual grandeur is the Ilanjithara Melam, a soul-stirring percussion ensemble featuring over 200 artists playing traditional instruments like the chenda and elathalam. The festivities reach a breathtaking finale with a massive display of pyrotechnics that lights up the early morning sky, drawing millions of spectators from across the globe.
