Mangalore: Devotees Rejoice at Colourful Okuli Festival
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS/VA)
Mangalore, Feb 11: The temple square at Car Street was adorned with rainbow colours on Friday February 11 as thousands of devotees celebrated the Okuli festival which is being annually celebrated as part of the famed six-day Kodial Theru festivity.
People in the area relished by sprinkling colours and playing holi irrespective of their age and gender. Devotees were in delighted mood dancing to the beats of drums as the Deity was carried on a golden palanquin.
With this the famous Car festival, popularly known as 'Kodial Theru' of Shri Venkatramana Temple here culminated in a grand manner with the colourful Okuli habba.
The entire area of Car Street wore a festive look and is given a facelift with the shops on either sides of the road. Inside the temple religious customs were performed. The men also performed ‘Madastana’. This year for the first time the junior pontiff Sri Samyamindra Swamiji attended the car festival.
The young and the old gathered in huge number at the temple square here and celebrated the Okuli by smearing colours and sharing fraternal greetings after the Vasanth puja. It was as if the entire temple square was painted with rainbow colours. Devotees gathered in thousands, swayed in merriment.
The annual five-day Kodial Theru is the event of the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community is a commemoration of the divine union of Lord Venkataramana and Goddess Padmavathi.
During the each day of five-day celebration, people are served traditional Konkani cuisine. The main celebration consists of the Car Festival and carrying of the deity on a huge wooden Theru around the city, which is then, will be bathed in the temple pond later in the evening.