Cultural pageantry

A colourful procession from Freedom Park to Palace Grounds preceded the Guruvandana programme for Balagangadharanatha.

There were tableaux on chief ministers from the Vokkaliga community - Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Kadidal Manjappa, H D Deve Gowda, S M Krishna, H D Kumaraswamy and Sadananda Gowda.

Cultural troupes from various parts of the State, in their traditional attires, danced to the drum beats. The seer was brought to the Palace Grounds in a specially-designed flower-decked chariot. Krishna, Kumaraswamy and Sadananda Gowda felicitated Balagangadharanatha by presenting him a golden crown.

Capacity crowd

The programme witnessed a massive turnout. There was not a single empty seat inside the huge pandal. People had gathered even outside the venue.

Huge LCD TVs had been installed for those who could not make it inside the pandal. Several food bays had been installed to serve lunch for the people, who had arrived from different parts of the State.

A film unit shot the entire event and the scenes will be included in the forthcoming Ambareesh-starrer film, ‘Sri Kshetra Adichunchanagiri’ directed by Om Saiprakash, sources said.