• Mysureans welcome 2025 with peaceful celebrations
• Two lakh laddus distributed at Sri Yoganarasimhaswamy Temple

Mysuru: Thousands of devotees and tourists flocked popular temples across Mysuru to seek blessings of the presiding deities on day one of New Year-2025. Devotees began queuing up as early as 6 am near Yoganarasimhaswamy Temple for the first darshan of the deity.

The temple authorities organised separate queues for women, men, senior citizens, and specially-abled devotees to facilitate entry. As announced, the temple distributed laddus and puliyogare to devotees. Long queues stretched up to a kilometre from the temple premises, with devotees patiently waiting to reach the sanctum sanctorum.

Sri Yoganarasimhaswamy Temple distributed 35,000 laddus to devotees by noon, with plans to distribute a total of two lakh laddus by evening.

Earlier, puja rituals commenced at 4.30 am with Thomale Seve, followed by Swarnapushpa Sahasranama and a procession of Utsavamurthy around the temple premises.

Similarly, Sri Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hill witnessed a massive influx of devotees. Despite having both special and normal darshan options, long queues had formed, with many waiting for hours to seek blessings.

In addition to the lengthy queues inside the Temple complex, the surrounding areas and roads experienced severe traffic congestion as hundreds of vehicles lined up the Hill to have a darshan of the Goddess.

KR Police and Siddarthanagar Traffic Police were deployed to manage vehicular movements. Not limiting themselves to Chamundi Hill, devotees also thronged the nearby Goddess Jwalamukhi Tripurasundari Devi Temple in Uttanahalli after seeking the blessings of Goddess Chamundeshwari.

Devotees were also seen visiting Sri Lakshmi Venkataramaswamy Temple in Vontikoppal, Sri Datta Venkateshwara Swamy Temple at Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashram, and other temples across the city.

Large numbers of devotees were present at Srikanteshwara Swamy in Nanjangud, Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Goddess Nimishamba Temple in Srirangapatna and the Sri Male Mahadeshwara Swamy Temple atop Male Mahadeshwara Hills in Chamarajanagar.

Police had made extensive security arrangements at popular temple sites both within the city and its outskirts to ensure the safety and smooth flow of devotees and prevent any untoward incidents.

On New Year’s Eve, one minor incident was reported at V.V. Puram Traffic Police Station limits where a vehicle suffered minor damages.

Meanwhile, last year two 22-year-old Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) students, Sampath and Vrithik Dharani, lost their lives at 2.15 am in an accident on Chaduranga Road (Hunsur Road and SJCE Road Junction) after their speeding bike collided with an SUV.

Additionally, 19-year-old Mahin Singh, an MBBS student, and 20-year-old Arnav, an engineering student, were killed in another accident at 3.15 am on Jan. 1, 2024, on the outskirts of Mysuru near Srirangapatna when their speeding SUV collided with a car.

The New Year’s Eve remained largely peaceful as the Mysuru City Police increased security and maintained a strong presence on the roads. Senior officers and staff from various Police Stations conducted regular patrols and checked motorists at vantage points.

Party-goers quietly made their way home after celebrations at hotels, resorts, clubs and other venues, which concluded by 1 am as directed by the Police. Guests started vacating their hotel rooms and were headed for their hometowns. As the New Year fell midweek, many employees had to report to their offices today.