Actor-director T S Nagabharana launches Srirangapatna Dasara in Srirangapatna on Thursday. Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy, and MLAs Ramesh Babu Bandisiddegowda and P Ravikumar are seen.
Credit: DH Photo
Srirangapatna (Mandya dist): The four-day Srirangapatna Dasara started in a colourful manner, near Kiranguru Bannimantapa on Thursday.
Actor-director T S Nagabharana launched the festival during the auspicious Makara Lagna at 3.40 pm, by offering floral tributes to Sri Chamundeshwari Devi idol placed in a wooden howdah.
Astrologist and scholar Bhanuprakash Sharma led the rituals. Agriculture and District In-charge Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy, MLAs Ramesh Babu Bandisiddegowda and P Ravikumar, former MLA Vijayalakshmi Bandisiddegowda and MLC K Shivakumar also offered floral tributes.
The Jamboo Savari procession passed through Baburayanakoppalu, Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, Kuvempu Circle, and Ambedkar Circle, covering around 4 km.
Around 30 folk troupes and tableaux took part in the procession from Kiranguru to Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple around 6.40 pm. Thousands of people witnessed the event, standing on either sides of the road, to have a glimpse of Srirangapatna Dasara Jamboo Savari. Folk troupes performed puja kunitha, tamate, nagari, patta kunitha, hulivesha, veeragaase, Veerabhadra kunitha, Kali kunitha, kamsale, veera makkala kunitha, onake kunitha, kolata, karagada kolata, garudi gombe, and kombu kahale. There were tableaux by Horticulture, Agriculture, Education, Sericulture, Women and Child Development, and Forest departments and Bharathiya Boudha Mahasabha.
The Dasara cultural programmes was launched after the procession reached the ground opposite Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple.
Three jumbos, which had come to Mysuru for Mysuru Dasara Jamboo Savari procession, were given the responsibility of carrying the idol of Goddess Sri Chamundeshwari Devi as part of Srirangapatna Jamboo Savari. The jumbos reached Srirangapatna on Wednesday evening from Mysuru.
They were given a traditional welcome by MLA Ramesh Babu and Deputy Commissioner Kumara. Dasara jumbo Mahendra carried the howdah, while Lakshmi and Kaveri were kumki elephants.