The twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad witnessed vibrant celebrations of Sri Krishna Janmashtami with various organisations and temple committees organising programmes for public celebrations of the festival.
At government offices, Janmashtami celebrations were held with authorities performing puja and paying floral tributes to Lord Krishna. Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde performed puja on his office premises in Dharwad.
At Deshpande Nagar in Hubballi, rathotsava (car festival) was held under the aegis of Dakshina Kannada Dravida Brahmana Samaj as part of Janmashtami celebrations.
Raising slogans Govinda... Govinda..., amid drum beats, devotees pulled the chariot of Lord Krishna for some distance. While folk troupes from different areas added colour to the celebrations, young women and the aged took part in Kolata. A new chariot (ratha) was also dedicated to the public on the occasion.
The ISKCON Hubballi-Dharwad Temple located at Rayapur in between Hubbali and Dharwad witnessed grand Janmashtami celebrations.
The celebrations began as early as 4.30 a.m. with mangalarti and throughout the day, various rituals were performed in the presence of a large number of Krishna devotees. The whole temple premises was decorated with flowers and various sevas were conducted by the temple priests.
A huge spread of a well-garnished 108 delicacies, all prepared by the devotees, were offered to Lord Sri Krishna and Lord Balarama and a huge laddu weighing 121 kg prepared with pure ghee was also offered. The devotees sang various devotional songs and there were dance performances and vocal concerts too.
As usual, the celebrations and various rituals continued past midnight with president of ISKCON Hubballi-Dharwad Rajiv Lochan Dasa delivering a discourse on the occasion.
At various Krishna temples in the twin cities, celebrations were held by devotees and various rituals too were conducted.
