Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 10: The five-day festivities connected with the annual car festival of Goddess Mangaladevi Temple in Bolar here, which had begun on March 5, concluded on Tuesday March 9.  The chariot of the Goddess was pulled on the night of Tuesday, the final day.

In addition to Ganahoma, Nava Kalashabhisheka and Mahapuja, various rituals were conducted as per custom, by the temple priests on this occasion. After the chariot was pulled, procedures like Bhootabali and Kavata Bandhana were conducted at night.

Various tableaux, Huliveshas, puppetry troupe, scenes from the mythology pertaining to the Goddess, Chende troupe and other accompaniments added to the grandeur of the car festival. Elaborate and artistic decoration of the temple with colourful electric lights, and burning of a variety of firecrackers, were the highlights of the last day.

Devotees from the city and various parts of the twin-districts as well as Kerala, thronged the temple, which is one of the most ancient in the region, and from which the name of the city was derived, in large numbers.