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The temple town of Nanjangud on the banks of the river Kapila came alive with religious fervour as the famed Pancha Maharathotsav was held on Friday, March 22.
Located about 26 km from Mysuru, Nanjangud is also known as Dakshina Kashi, and the car festival is the biggest event associated with the famous Srikanteshwara temple to witness which people turn up from across the State.
The unique feature of the Nanjangud Rathothsava is that it entails drawing five rathas each of which is named after a deity. The distance covered is about 1.5 km along the car street or the ‘’Ratha Beedi’’.
The preparations for the car festival began a few days earlier with the temple authorities making all the necessary arrangements while the religious rites and rituals associated with it commenced at the crack of dawn around 4 a.m. There was a steady stream of devotees to the temple town from Thursday (March 21) onwards and people had occupied every inch of space surrounding the temple to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.
After the due completion of the rituals, the processional deities were brought to the respective rathas at 6.30 a.m. amidst the chanting of the hymns, and the main ratha is named Gautama Ratha dedicated to the principal deity Lord Srikanteshwara. The other rathas are named after Parvathi, Ganesha, Subramanya, and Chandikeshwara. The Gautama ratha is the tallest and the most imposing of the five rathas and is reckoned to tower over 90 feet besides weighing about 110 tons.
The first off the block was the Ganesha ratha as per the tradition but it got stranded due to a defective wheel after covering some distance while the other rathas completed the circumambulation of the temple.
The festival that is also known as Doddajathre in the local parlance tends to draw a huge crowd and it was no different this year as well. But after the completion of the rathothsava there tends to be a steady stream of devotees visiting the temple. This year however, the number of devotees visiting the temple was relatively less as the school examinations are yet to be completed while the SSLC exams are scheduled to begin from March 25.
As the election Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in place, none of the elected representatives were present and the event was conducted under the supervision of the officials. The KSRTC had introduced special services to Nanjangud while security arrangements were elaborate.
