A huge crowd of devotees arrived from different parts of the country and abroad for the Sharanabasaveshwar Jatra, an annual temple car (Ratha) festival, celebrated to commemorate the 200th death anniversary of 18th century saint Sharanabasaveshwar in Kalaburagi on Tuesday.
Many devotees reached Kalaburagi walking miles together from their villages and towns in Kalaburagi, Raichur, Vijayapura, Bidar and the bordering districts in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
Kalaburagi wore a festive look with festoons put up all around the city.
With cheers from emotionally charged devotees reverberating in the air, the Ratha carrying the idol of Sharanabasaveshwar was drawn around the shrine complex. Devotees also raised slogans hailing Sharanabasaveshwar and the eighth Peetadhipathi of the Sharanabasaveshwar Samasthan Sharnbaswappa Appaji. For the first time, the Samsthan arranged for an helicopter and drones to shower rose petals on the Ratha.
For the first time, both the eighth Mahadasoha Peetathipathi of the Samsthan Dr. Appaji and his son, Chiranjivi Doddappa Appaji, who has been coronated as the ninth Peetadhipathi, presided over all the religious rituals before and after the Rathotsava.
Chiranjivi Doddappa Appaji went around the tastefully decorated Ratha and offered pujas and Naivaidya to the Ratha and joined his father at the specially erected enclosure in the Dasoha Mahamane, adjacent to the shrine to witness the Rathotsava along with his mother, Dr. Dakshayini Avvaji.
They jointly displayed the Prasada Battalu (Silver Plate in which Saint Sharanabasaveshwar took his food) and the Linga Sajjike (the idol of a sacred Linga placed in a silver casket that was worn by the saint) to the devotees. Dr. Appaji blew a conch to signal the devotees to pull the Ratha. The Peetathipathi of the Samsthan formally took charge of the Peetha, which is traditionally known as Peetarohana.
Chairperson of the Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangha Dr. Dakshayini Avvaji, a former Supreme Court Judge Shivaraj Patil, senior medical oncologist Shekhar Patil, secretary of the Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangha Basavaraj Deshmukh and Vice-Chancellor of Sharnbasva University Niranjan V. Nisty were among the prominent people who witnessed the Rathotsava.
