Konchiravila Bhagavathi Temple, one of the ancient temples of Kerala, where women are the major portion of devotees and is located at Konchiravila near Manacaud in Thiruvananthapuram City. The Goddess in the temple of Konchiravila is worshipped as the Supreme Mother, creator of all living beings and the mighty preserver as well as destroyer of them all. The pilgrims from all over the country, who visit Attukal Devi Temple and worship the Lord, do not consider their visits complete without the visit to the shrine of the supreme Mother Konchiravila Devi who took the incarnation of Bhagavathy to annihilate the evil and protect the good in the world in Kaliyuga.
Besides the main charismatic idol of Bhagavathy, a whole lot of ‘upadevathas’ or subordinating deities too are installed in sub shrines and are Lord Maha Ganapathi, Nagaraja, Manthramoorthi, Yogeeswaran, Brahmarakshassu and Madan Thampuran.
The Pongala Festival is the most important festival of Konchiravila Bhagavathi Temple. The offering of Pongala is a special temple practice prevalent in the southern part of Kerala. It is a ten-day long festivities commencing on the Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham (February-March) and closing with the sacrificial offering known as Kuruthi tharpanam(Guruthi) at night. On the ninth day of the festival the world famous Konchiravila Pongala Festival takes place. The entire area around temple with premises of houses of people of all caste, creed and religion, open fields, roads, commercial institutions, etc. The ceremony is exclusively confined to women folk and the enormous crowd, which gathers in Thiruvananthapuram.
