Every year tens of thousands of people flock to the town of Thrissur in Kerala, India to watch a 36-hour long procession of elephants. I had the good fortune of passing through in the neighborhood when I heard stories of this extravagant festival. My interest piqued by the locals describing this event and speaking of hundreds of elephants, I decided to investigate Thrissur Pooram.

Started over two hundred years ago, supposedly by King Sakthan, who ruled Kochi in the late 18th century, Thrissur Pooram is a performance dedicated to the Lord Shiva. Various temples from the surrounding area are represented and put on their own shows. Famously the two most impressive elephant displays are from the Krishna Temple at Thiruvanbadi and the Devi Temple at Paramekkavu. Limited to a total of fifteen elephants in a procession, the temples go to some lengths to secure the biggest ones in South India.

All day long beautifully caparisoned elephants form walls of ornamented gold and striking colours at Vadakumnathan Temple. Standing atop the mighty beasts bare-chested men rhythmically gyrate with the resplendent and shimmering umbrellas. Every couple of minutes the music builds to a boil and a man on each elephant stands tall and shakes what appear to be white pom-poms. Added to this, at the very back of the elephant, are men holding up large circular panels outlined in peacock feathers. It is a celebration; for the temples to show off their work, and for the people to marvel at the elephants, symbolic of the Hindu God of luck and prosperity, Ganesha. It’s all quite captivating.

After about an hour of this one does get a bit weary. And hot. Having arrived at around ten in the morning, and learning that the elephants keep coming and going all day, I sought out an air-conditioned restaurant. This was no easy task and before finding my desired lunchroom I happened to notice that all around the Temple elephants were being held in reserve, munching away on greenery. There must have been well over a hundred of the majestic beasts in the town centre. To be sure, this festival does live up to its reputation as “the elephant procession to end all elephant processions.”

All of the festivities are accompanied by a highly hypnotic music. Essentially a percussion show featuring drums, air pipes, and cymbals, scores of artists keep a constant beat going. A major attraction of Thrissur Pooram is Elanjithara Mellam, when the musicians congregate on the main grounds and put on a raucous performance. This event is loud and crazy. It’s something akin to a traditional Indian mosh-pit.

Oddly enough this festival ends at 4 A.M., after an enormous fireworks display. That’s right; fireworks go off in the middle of the night to signal the closing of Thrissur Pooram. I have to admit I didn’t even try to stay awake to catch them. However, when the blasting started I woke up in my hotel room about 2 KM from the festival grounds thinking a terrorist attack had just taken out the lobby. These are not your standard fireworks. From my observations at the window it looked as if large quantities of gun-powder dug into trenches were being lit. An appropriately odd finish to a peculiar, but nonetheless enchanting, Hindu festival.