Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 21 (UNI) The annual 'pongala' festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple, known as ''Sabarimala of women'', will be held here from February 23, temple trust members informed today.

Talking to mediapersons here, trust president R Gopinathan Nair and chairman G Madhavan Nair claimed that about 25 lakh women, the largest annual gathering of women in the world, were expected to take part in this year's pongala ritual on March three.

Last year around 15 lakh women turned up for the ritual, they said.

Stating that the festival had found place in the Guinness Book of World Records, they said the highest attendance recorded was 1.5 million women on February 23, 1997.

On the pongala offering day, women gather with their cooking pots to perform the ritual for the health and prosperity of their families, Mr Gopinthan Nair said.

Pongala, held on the ninth day of the ten-day-long festival, was the most important ritual of the temple. Devotees from all walks of life, irrespective of their social status, religion and cast, throng the temple to offer the pongala, a sweet rice, prepared in earthen pots with rice, jaggery and coconut, for the Goddess.

UNI