Iron mortars anchored at the firing area of Puttingal temple. Locally crafted gun powder mixes are filled into the half buried mortars and fired for display. The Explosive Rules, (2008) specifies that mortars of the same size and shape shall be grouped and spaced at least 50 centimeters apart. Minimum of 10 meters shall be maintained between groups of different sized mortars. At Puttingal temple, mortars of different sizes were used together without maintaining the specified safety distances.