Vattappalai Kannaki Amman Pongal
Each May, tens of thousands gather at Vattappalai Kannaki Amman Kovil in Mullaitivu to cook pongal in clay pots for the goddess Kannaki, a Vanni tradition.
Vattappalai Kannaki Amman Kovil, near the Nanthikadal lagoon in Mullaitivu district, is the most important shrine of the goddess Kannaki in Sri Lanka. Kannaki is the heroine of the Tamil epic Silappatikaram, a faithful wife who, according to legend, burned the city of Madurai in her grief and anger after her husband was wrongly executed. In Sri Lanka she is worshipped by Tamils as Kannaki Amman and by Sinhalese as the goddess Pattini.
Her biggest festival here is the Vaikasi Visakam Pongal, held on the full moon of the Tamil month of Vaikasi, usually in May. In the week before, a lamp is kept burning for seven days at the Mulliyavalai Kattavinayagar temple, and legend says it burns on sea water. It is then carried in procession to Vattappalai to light the festival.
On the night of the festival, families spread out across the temple grounds and cook pongal, sweet rice boiled with milk and jaggery, in hundreds of clay pots over open fires, to offer to the goddess. Devotees come from across the Vanni and from Jaffna, Vavuniya and Trincomalee, and many stay up through the night for the poojas.
This is a deeply local pilgrimage rather than a tourist event, and very few foreign visitors make it here. If you go, travel with someone who knows the area, dress modestly, and be ready for crowds, heat and simple facilities.
Little of the temple's history is written down. It has stood since at least the Dutch period, and most of what people know about it has been handed down by word of mouth, including the tradition that Kannaki rested at ten places after arriving in Sri Lanka, and that Vattappalai, once called Paththam Palai, was the tenth. After years when the war kept many devotees away, the Pongal festival drew huge crowds again from 2011, and for many families it marks the return of a tradition that was interrupted for a generation.
Mullaitivu is a long drive from the main tourist routes, so plan to stay somewhere nearby rather than travelling there and back in a day, and bring a torch and plenty of water for the night.
At a glance
- When: Usually in May
- Duration: The Vaikasi full moon, with the lamp ceremony in the week before
- Venue: Vattappalai Kannaki Amman Kovil, Mullaitivu
- Organizer: Vattappalai Kannaki Amman Kovil
- Entry: Free