Shodhan Prasad
Daijiworld Media Network – Dubai
Dubai, Jun 26: Padmashali UAE, a community association of Karnataka's web weavers on the occasion of their second anniversary in UAE concluded a vibrant Shri Satyanarayana Pooja on June 22, here on the 5th Floor Banquet Hall of Karama Centre.
Around 700 devotees from Padmashali community and members of other communities of Karnataka residing in UAE witnessed the Puja which also included 'Hari Katha' recitation by the well known Ambathanaya Mudradi who came all the way from India to perform at this ceremony. He is not only a veteran from Padmashali community but has also rendered innumerable recitations of Hari Katha all over India and was honoured.
The Puja Kalasha Prathistapane began around 3 pm in the presence of senior members of the community. Jayanth Shettigar along with his wife were seated on the pedestal on behalf of the organisation to accept the Puja formalities.
Special bhajans were rendered by a group of children, under the guidance of Sachindranath and Shubhaker in their melodious voice which impressed all the devotees present. Later the special invitee Ambathanaya Mudradi who is a poet, Yakshagana exponent, Kannada literary exponent and also a Hari Katha specialist was invited to the stage by Raghuram Shettigar and his wife and honoured with a flower garland and also introduced before the start of 'Hari Katha'.
Ambathanaya Mudradi, who started the 'Hari Katha' took the devotees to a devotional world for nearly two hours cheering them up with the humour filled mini stories in between, clipping to the main story on "Hanumadwillasa". Accompanying him were Anand Shanbhagh on harmonica and Giridhar Naik on the tabla perfectly coordinating with each other. Ambathanaya Mudradi who arrived for the first time to the Gulf was presented and honoured with the title "Jnanarishi" by Padmashali UAE in the midst of the programme. Ashok Padmashali along with his wife honoured Mudradi with shawl and flower bouquet, while Durghesh couple honoured him with memento, Dr Padmanabh read out the felicitation letter and Ravi Shettigar presented the same to Ambathanaya Mudradi during the ceremony.
Leaders of various Karnataka Associations were also present and Ganesh Rai who actively supported Padmashali was felicitated with a shawl along with Giridhar Nayak who decorated the main mantap of the almighty with flowers. On behalf of media Sandhya Shodhan received the felicitation for www.daijiworld.com and Ashok Belman received the honour on behalf of www.gulfkannadiga.com.
All the devotees savored the Prasada served after the Maha Mangalarthi by the members of Narayana Seva Samithi while the programme was ably handled by Dr Padmanabh throughout as Master of ceremony.
The programme was successfully organised under the leadership of Ravi B Shettigar, president of Padmashali UAE.