Mangaluru: The Kalkura Prathishthana organized a National Childrens festival at the Kadri Shri Manjunatha temple precincts here on September 5.
The venue turned into a wonderland of colour, light and laughter and occasionally a plaint cry from a toddler which is but normal in such circumstances. Children of all ages dressed as Krishna appeared to be walking all over the temple, some posing for cameras, some getting ready for the competition and some squatting around at available spots to relax themselves. But it was a riot of colours everywhere in the temple.
The programme was inaugurated by Laxmi Narayana Asranna by lighting the traditional lamp along with other dignitaries on the dais. Addressing the gathering Asranna said, “By conducting such competitions we can drive away the lethargy from inside the children and make them active. Today we are very happy because some of them who had competed 30 years before, have brought their children to compete on the same stage for the same competition.”
Speaking on the occasion Pradeep Kumar Kalkura said that it is nice to see children showing interest to take part in Krishna vesha competition, which attracted the people from various part of the country. People come from other districts and states to take part in the Krishna Vesha competition. We have to teach our children moral values as well as make them develop a habit of reading Bhagavad Gita. By reading it we can bring changes in our life. To make children aware about Lord Krishna we started the competition 30 years ago with only 8 children.”
This year the participation of children in the Shri Krishna Vesha competition is very less compared to the previous year.
All the participants were given an idol of Udupi ‘Kudugolu’ Krishna made of Panchaloha (an alloy) along with books relating to the life-story of Shri Krishna, a certificate and a photo of Lord Kadri Shri Manjunatha and an attractive cloth bag.
The nationally acclaimed competition had 25 categories. The competitions were held in 8 stages in Kadri Shri Manjunatha temple’s Abhishek Hall in both the floors, Manjushree, Ashwatha Katte, Kadri Kere, Shri Krishna Janmashtami Samiti main stage, Kalyana Mantapa and Ganapati temple from 1.30 pm and will go on till 7-00 pm.
CMD Karnataka Bank P Jayaram Bhat, Prof M B Puranik, Mohan Mendon, Leelaksha Karkera and others were also present. Navneet Shetty compered the programme.
