The mood of the entire Port City was set to Mangaluru Dasara on Friday evening. The main roads of the city were decorated with electric bulbs and banners.
Roadside vendors were busy selling Paanipuri, Churumuri, balloons and ice-cream as people headed towards the Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatheshwara Temple to witness the beauty of the grand procession of the Navaratri celebrations.
The procession was led by Payyattam Chendevadyam Kalavidar, a Chende team from Kannur in Kerala, which was headed by Prakash.
The team has been participating in every Shivarathri and Navarathri celebrations at the Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple for the past 30 years. It was followed by band, vadyam and colorful umbrellas which doubled the glory of the procession.
‘Aadipoojita’ leads
In the colourful procession, the idol of ‘Aadipoojita’ Lord Ganapati was followed by the idols of Brahmashri Narayanaguru, Goddesses Aadhishakthi, Shailaputhri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmandini, Skanda Matha, Kaathyayini, Mahakaali, Mahagowri and Siddidhathri. The idol of Goddess Sharada was the last to leave the temple premises.
The procession, which commenced at the temple, passed through Mannagudda, Lady Hill Circle, Lalbagh, Ballalbagh, PVS Circle, Navabharath Circle, KS Rao Road, Hampankatta, Ganapathi High School Road, Venkatramana Temple, Car Street, New Chitra Circle and Alake before it reaches the temple premises in the wee hours of Saturday. Later, the idols will be immersed in Pushkarini, the temple pond.
Colourful tableaux
More than 40 tableaux were part of the grand procession. Many teams including Ballalbagh Friends, Manjalbail and Barke Friends participated. More than 10 teams performed Hulivesha (Tiger Dance) with great zeal.
The ‘Biruver Kudla’ tableau of Ballalbagh Friends attracted the onlookers with its richness. Even the government bodies like Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy participated in the procession with a tableau.
At Lalbagh, ‘Sur- Sangeeth’ orchestra and felicitation of achievers was held as a part of the procession.
Extra police personnel were deployed across the procession route and the police teams were kept on alert with extra vehicles to handle huge crowd. Special traffic arrangements were made.
Earlier, former union minister B Janardhan Poojary felicitated District In-Charge Minister B Ramanath Rai, Health Minister U T Khader, Temple Administrative Committee President H S Sairam, writer-cum-engineer B T Salian and others at Sharada Devi Mantap.
A special prayer was performed before commencing the procession. Wife of former MLA late Manjappa Ullal and retired teacher Saraswati had inaugurated the Dasara celebrations on October 22.
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