Chamrajeshwaraswamy car festival held

Rajasthan association distributes ladus to devotees

Frequent showers on Sunday here did not deter the enthusiasm of the youth, who had painted themselves with a riot of colours, celebrating the annual Chamarajeshwaraswamy Rathotsava, held with religious fervour.

As soon as the rains stopped, much to the relief of vendors, makeshift shops that were covered with polythene sheets were unveiled and business started. Vendors selling glass bangles, puffed rice and sweets made roaring business with thousands of people thronging the place to participate in the car festival. But, the devotees’ wish for a new chariot at least this year was not fulfilled.

Special pujas were performed for the chariots before being taken out in a procession on the main streets of the city. The first was Ganapathi-Chandikeshwara ratha, followed by Subramanya ratha. Later, Chamarajeshwaraswamy Doddaratha was pulled, followed by Chamundeshwari ratha. Women too pulled the rope with great enthusiasm.

Chamarajeshwaraswamy Rathotsava is held in the month of Ashada. As no such festival is held in any other part of the district, thousands of devotees from across the district gather to offer prayers.

All basic facilities were provided by the district administration. Various organisations too had arranged mass feeding and distribution of sweets on the occasion.

As an annual ritual members of the Rajasthan Association distributed 15,000 ladus at a cost of Rs 50,000.

MLA C Puttarangashetty, Deputy Commissioner M V Savitri, Tahsildar Chandrakant Bhajantri and SP P Rajendrakumar offered prayers.