Kudla Gearing Up for ‘Mangaluru Dasara’-a 10-day Event Starting at Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple
Mangaluru: It’s once again that time of the year, the famed “Mangaluru Dasara” will be held at Sri Kshetra Gokarnanatha, Kudroli, and this year it will kick-start from October 10. Preparations are underway to organize this 10-day festivity under the stewardship of senior politician B Janardhan Poojary. During the years, the Mangaluru Dasara has earned its own name and fame and is growing bigger with each passing year- and lakhs of people throng the Kshetra for the blessings, and line up the streets to watch the Dasara procession/floats.
‘Mangaluru Dasara’ is being organized every year under the principle of socio-religious equality advocated by social reformer Saint Brahmashree Narayana Guru and with participation of all sections of society- and the same tradition will be continued even this year. It is noted that already various sub-committees have been meeting and chalking out the minutest details in this regard for past two months. The Kshetra is getting a extreme makeover, streets in Kudla are getting illuminated with chain lighting, huge ‘FLEX?’ hoardings wishing the Dasara success are also erected at various places, among other preparations.
Sri Kshetra Gokarnanatha is renowned for worshiping Goddess Sharada along with the Navadurgas on all 10-days of the festivity and marked by a colourful procession taken out on the 10th day. Since lakhs of devotees will descend on the Kshetra, the committee members are gearing up to make all the arrangements for their safety and comfort beforehand. Opinions are also being collected from the members at the preparatory meeting on how best the dasara procession could be made colourful and different compared to the previous years so that it could give the devotees and tourists an experience to cherish.
‘Mangaluru Dasara’ is famous Festival celebration and its grand Procession which is carried across the streets of Mangaluru, is also referred as Navarathri Festival, Vijayadashami and also called Marnemi in Tulu. Tiger dance and Bear Dance are main attraction in Mangaluru Dasara. The city will be decorated with dazzling and sparkling lights everywhere in the City, it is like a carnival for 10 days.
Tiger dance aka Hulivesha (Kannada) aka Pilivesa (Tulu) is one of the famous folk dances during Dasara/Navaratri, where typically young males form troops of five to ten members and are costumed like tigers and a band with two or three drummers. These days even females take part in the Tiger dance. Tiger dance is performed to honor the goddess Durga whose favorite animal is a tiger.
The well-known Mangalore Dasara celebrations is famous for its sparkling procession. The dasara procession is an overnight affair kick starting from the temple and ending back at the Kshetra where the idols are immersed in the temple kalyani (pond) on the wee hours the following day. The Citizens of Mangaluru and thousands of devoteesfrom various parts will be joining together in the City to witness the grand finale of the Mangalore Dasara on the day of Vijayadashami Entire streets in the City ( the route of the procession) will be decorated with electric bulbs to welcome the procession. Idols of ‘Navadurgas’ along with Mahaganapathi and Sharada are carried in the procession, augmented by flowers, decorative umbrellas, tableaux, bands, chende and traditional dances, folk dances, Yakshagana characters, Dollu Kunitha, gombe (dolls), Hulivesha(Tiger Dance) and other traditional art forms. The procession passes through the main roads of the city including Kudroli, Mannagudda, Ladyhill, Lalbagh, K S Rao road, Hampankatta, Car Street and Alake.
During a press meet the Kshethra treasurer Padmaraj R briefing the media persons said, “The 10-day Mangaluru Dasara will begin at Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple here on October 10. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will attend it on October 14. The rituals would begin with the installation of Navadurgas and Sharada Mata idols at the temple on October 10. This will be done around noon, following the lighting of the lamp by the managing director and CEO of Karnataka Bank, Mahabaleshwara M.S”.
“Chief Minister Kumaraswamy will attend the festival on October 14 at 6 p.m. District in-charge Minister U.T. Khader, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary, D. Vedavyas Kamath, Mangaluru City South MLA, B.K. Hariprasad, MP, MLCs S.L. Boje Gowda and K. Harish Kumar, and Mayor K. Bhaskar will participate. Senior Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary, who renovated the temple, will lead the celebrations. The grand procession of Navadurgas and Sharada Mata idols would be taken out on October 19 from the temple premises. Apart from the 10 idols, nearly 75 tableaux will participate in the procession, which will begin at 4 p.m.” he added.
Padmaraj further said, “Folk artistes from each of the 30 districts will take part in the procession that will go around different parts of the city. After passing through the specified route in the city, the procession will culminate at the temple during the wee hours, around 4- 5 a.m. on October 20, and the idols will be immersed in a pond. The temple will also hold a mega ‘Anna Santarpana’ on October 18. Artistes from Mangaluru and other parts of the State will perform at the temple in the evenings from October 10 to 18”.
About Kudroli Gokarnanatha Kshethra :
Kudroli temple is the center of attraction during the Navarathri festival. The Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatheshwara Temple was built in the year 1912 by Sri Narayana Guru. Gokarnanatha is the other name for Lord Shiva. The temple has Gopuram (tower like huge structure) decorated with murals of various gods and goddesses. Murals depict the scenes from Hindu epics and legends.
The Kudroli temple trust keeps the `Gangavatharana’ (Ganges water flowing from the crown of Lord Shiva) in operation for all 9 days during the Navarathri. The depiction has 4 colorful idols of Shiva 13 feet high with a jet of water rushing towards the sky to a height of 100 feet. As the water from four sides reach their pinnacle they take shape of a Shivalingam. Color lights around the place add to the glory of the site. Navarathri and Shivarathri are the two big festivals celebrated at this temple. The celebrations at the temple during Dasara is also popularly called as “Mangaluru Dasara”.