As thousands of women descended on Kerala’s capital Thursday for the Attukal Pongala, a Hindu ritual steeped in legend, an unexpected coalition of faith emerged to support them. What follows below is a story of awe and amazement, showcasing the true meaning of communal harmony.

The Manakkad Juma Masjid, a local mosque, opened its grounds and facilities to the devotees, joined by St. Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral and St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic Church in a striking show of interfaith solidarity.

The mosque cleared its parking lot for cars, offered drivers a place to rest inside, and set up toilets and drinking water stations for the women enduring sweltering heat to cook pongala—sweetened rice offered to the deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy temple, dubbed the “Women’s Sabarimala.”

A mosque official, speaking to a local television channel, noted that one room was reserved for police on duty, a gesture repeated annually, as devotees confirmed. Ramadan fasting precluded morning meals, but food flowed Wednesday evening after the day’s fast ended.

Nearby, St. Joseph’s Cathedral provided water, rest areas, and restrooms—a practice it upheld last year—while parishioners from St. Theresa’s church distributed buttermilk to the throngs.

The acts of hospitality bridged religious lines, offering relief to women from across Kerala and beyond, some traveling from abroad, who gathered to honor a tale of vengeance and generosity: Kannagi, the Silappadhikaram heroine said to have burned Madurai after her husband’s unjust execution, once fed by local women.

The festival, one of India’s largest all-female religious events, transforms Thiruvananthapuram into a sea of earthen pots and fervent prayers.

This year, as every year, it also revealed a quieter story: a city where faith communities, despite their differences, share in the burden—and the grace—of tradition.