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Stage set for Maha Navaratri at Mookambika temple

Published On : 13 Oct 2015


Udupi (The Hindu): The Maha Navaratri festival will be celebrated at the famous Sri Mookambika Templeat Kollur in Udupi district from Tuesday onwards. The festivities will end on October 22.

A large number of devotees from the State as well as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry are expected to participate in the festival. The ‘Kalasha Sthapane’ ritual will be held at 9 a.m. on October 13. The ‘Chandika Yaga’ would be performed during Mahanavami at 11.30 a.m. on October 21, while the ‘Rathotsava’ will be held at 9.45 p.m.

A major highlight of the Vijay Dashami festival on October 22 will be the ‘Vidyarambha’ ceremony. It will begin at the Saraswati Mandira on the temple premises at 4 a.m. It is believed that Sri Adi Shankaracharya composed the ‘Saundarya Lahari’ at the Saraswati Mandira.

During the ceremony, the symbol ‘Om’ is drawn on the tongues of children aged between two to three years with a turmeric twig. The children are then made to write the alphabets in rice grains. Nearly 2,000 children are expected to participate in the Vidyarambha ceremony this time.

The utsavamurthy (idol taken out during procession) of Goddess Mookambika will be carried to the ‘Shukla Tirtha’, about one kilometre from Kollur, and brought back at 5.30 p.m. on the same evening. This is called ‘Vijaya Utsava.’

Goddess Mookambika will be decorated in a different style on each day of the Maha Navaratri festival.

Health centre

V. Prasanna, administrative officer of the temple, told The Hindu that the devotees would also be provided breakfast at the temple in addition to two meals from October 15 to 26. “Since there are government holidays from October 22 to 27, barring October 26, we are expecting large number of devotees on these days also,” he said.

Arrangements had also been made for car parking at the Mookambika Temple High School Ground, the Temple Ground, the Kalyan Gudde, and either sides of the Bus Stand. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had been told to run more buses from the Byndoor railway station to the temple during the festival. Cultural programmes would be held daily from 3 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. at the Swarnamukhi Ranga Mandira near the temple.

 


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