Mysuru: The grand six-day Annual Suttur Jathra Mahotsava of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Shivayogi Mahaswamiji began this morning with festive and religious fervour at Suttur Srikshetra in Nanjangud taluk. The Jathra will be held till Feb. 6.    

The event is organised every year by Suttur Mutt to commemorate the birth anniversary of Shivarathreeshwara Shivayogi Mahaswamiji and is a blend of tradition and modern.

The Mutt has organised a slew of events including religious meets, mass marriages, Krishi Mela, exhibitions, rural sports competitions, kite flying, cultural events State-level bhajan mela, mass feeding for eight lakh devotees, more than 450 cultural programmes, wrestling competitions and a cattle fair apart from Theppotsava, Lakshadeepotsava and other religious programmes.

The fair was inaugurated by Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt Seer Sri Nirmalanandanatha Mahaswamiji in the presence of Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji of Suttur Mutt, Sri Vishuddhanandaji of Shivagiri Mutt Varkal, Thiruvananthapuram, Adichunchanagiri Mysuru Branch Mutt Seer Sri Somanatha Swamiji, Ramanagaram Branch Mutt Seer Sri Annadaneshwara Swamiji and other dignitaries.

A large number of people from Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan thronged the Srikshetra today to take part in the festival. The Mutt had deployed more than 2,000 volunteers, set up health centres, information kiosks to provide information of various events to visitors, gave thrust to maintain cleanliness and made arrangements to ensure clean drinking water and mass feeding.

The Mutt also paid tributes by setting up life-size cut outs of Siddaganga Mutt Seer Sri Shivakumara Swamiji who passed away recently. Apart from Police and other security measures, the Mutt had also deployed volunteers to sprinkle the water on mud roads to prevent dust as vehicles move.                      

The exhibition, agriculture fair and cultural fair drew a large number of visitors on the first day of the festival. More than 200 stalls displaying handicrafts, home-made products, clothes, Khadi dress materials, modern agriculture tools and equipment have been set up at the exhibition.         

A ‘Krishi Brahmanda’ at Krishi Mela which displayed 166 varieties of crops grown in just one acre of land drew overwhelming response. Exhibition of super-food crops like Teff, Chia and Quinoa was the major highlight. A ‘selfie thota’ for youth to click pictures at Krishi Mela was another attraction.   

Speaking after inaugurating the exhibition, agriculture fair and cultural fair, Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji bemoaned that youths nowadays are keeping away from agriculture, which is the mainstay occupation of the nation. He blamed government policies for it.

The organisers felicitated farmers with Best Farmers Award. They are P.N. Rajendrakumar Mallaradhya, K. Shivashankar, Mahadevaiah, Ravikumar, Shivanna, Mahendraswamy, Prabhuswamy, Mallikarjunappa and Swamy.

President of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce S.A. Chinnegowda, former MLA Vasu, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjuna and others were present.