A sea of humanity turned up at Nanjangud, on the banks of river Kapila and around 16 km from Mysuru, to witness and participate in the car festival or the Pancha Maharathotsava of Srikanteshwara temple, held on Wednesday.
The festival, which is also known as Doddajathre, was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and the strict regulations in place against mass gatherings.
During 2020 it was conducted in a simple manner devoid of public participation while in 2021 the Doddjathre was confined to the temple precincts in which only the priests and temple administrators took part and was out of bounds for the public.
The car festival draws devotees not only from Mysuru and surrounding districts but also from other parts of the State..
Devotees began streaming into the temple town on Tuesday evening. By late in the night the vantage points providing a glimpse of the car festival had been occupied.
The rituals related to the car festival began a little past midnight and the deities were brought to the five chariots at around 3.30 a.m. amidst the chanting of hymns.
After the elaborate rituals the chariots were pulled by the devotees around 5 a.m. While the main chariot is the Gauthama Ratha dedicated to Lord Srikanteshwara, the other chariots are dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Lord Subrahmanya, Goddess Parvathi and Chandikeshwara. Of these, the Gauthama Ratha is the tallest and reckoned to be nearly 100 feet tall and devotees jostle to get a glimpse of the spectacle that culminates after the five rathas complete the circumambulation of the temple.
Special bus services were arranged for public transportation while the police had made elaborate arrangements for the smooth completion of the rathothsava.
Local MLA Harshavardhana, Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru, and senior officials of the district administration including Deputy Commissioner Bagadi Gautham, were also present.
