Thrissur Pooram

Pooram is held at the Vadakkunnathan temple ground in Thrissur on a date in the Malayalam month of Medam, usually April or May, and it is organised as a contest between two temple groups, Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady. Each brings fifteen elephants in gold caparisons carrying ceremonial parasols, and the centrepiece is the kudamattam, in which the two rows face each other and change parasols in rapid sequence, each display answered by the other, before a crowd of tens of thousands. Panchavadyam and pandi melam percussion ensembles of hundreds of players accompany it, and fireworks run before dawn.

What you actually see

• The kudamattam - the parasol exchange between two facing elephant rows.
• The caparisoned elephants - fifteen from each temple in gold ornament.
• The percussion - pandi melam ensembles of hundreds of drummers.
• The fireworks - the pre-dawn display that closes the festival.

When to go

April or May, on the date fixed by the Malayalam calendar; the main events run from morning through the following dawn. Accommodation in Thrissur books out months ahead.

Honest expectations

Crowds run into the hundreds of thousands and heat is severe. The use of captive elephants in the festival is criticised on welfare grounds and animals have bolted in past years. Fireworks are extremely loud and have caused accidents.

Nearby

Athirappilly lies southeast; Kochi is south.