Over 14 lakh devotees witness melange of activities

Mysuru: Curtain came down on the grand six-day annual Suttur Jathra Mahotsava of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Shivayogi Mahaswamiji at Srikshetra Suttur in Nanjangud last evening.

The mega event concluded with the procession of Utsavamurthy of Sri Shivarathreeshwara Shivayogi Mahaswamiji from new ‘Gadduge’ to old ‘Gadduge.’

Lakhs of devotees from across the State, apart from State and Central Government Ministers and various religious heads, witnessed the Jathra.

Except gas balloon explosion incident that injured seven people including MLC Marithibbegowda, the Jathra passed off peacefully with all religious and festive fervour. However, all the injured, who are undergoing treatment at JSS Hospital, are recovering.

Adichunchanagiri Mutt Seer Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara, former CM Siddharamaiah, Home Minister M.B. Patil, Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde, cine actor Darshan  Thoogudeepa, Infosys Foundation Chairperson Dr. Sudha Murty and many other prominent personalities attended programmes organised as part of the six-day celebrations.

The melange of activities such as dance, drama, bhajan contests, seminars, workshops for farmers, Krishi Mela, cattle fair, mass marriage, indigenous games for young, free health camps, scientific exhibitions and other educational events to sensitise the public on various issues were held which drew huge crowd.

As many as 14 lakh people visited the Fair, Prasadam was distributed to 12 lakh devotees and Mahaprasadam was given to other two lakh devotees during the Jathra celebrations, according to Mutt sources.

Over 450 cultural events and performance of cultural programmes by 3,500 Mutt students were the major attractions of this fair. The Jathra also saw participation of cultural troupes from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The exhibition had 400 stalls of various products that was spread over six acres of land. A ‘Krishi Brahmanda’ at Krishi Mela, which displayed 166 varieties of crops grown in just one acre of land, drew huge crowd on all the six days of the Festival.

Another highlight was, cattle were brought in large numbers for the Cattle Fair. A number of traditional and religious events, indigenous games for the entertainment of the local community, besides kite flying and wrestling contests were held successfully.