Vitla Pindi celebrations draw thousands to Udupi

Udupi: Thousands of people flocked to the temple town of Udupi, to participate in the Vitla Pindi and Krishna Leelotsava, celebrated at the Car Street of Sri Krishna Temple on Saturday.
Paryaya Krishnapura Mutt seer Sri Vidyasagara Thirtha Swamiji led the Vitla Pindi celebrations, which is also called Mosaru Kudike Utsava or Srikrishna Leelotsava. Being a weekend, and the festival being celebrated after two years in such grandeur, saw a lot of tourists and people of all age groups taking part in it. A long queue was seen at the Sri Krishna temple since early morning, for the ‘darshan’ of the Sri Krishna.
As a religious custom, a clay idol of Sri Krishna was taken in a procession around the Car Street in a chariot, after the mahamangalarthi, before the cultural events in the evening. The pontiffs then threw the prasadam laddus, chakkulis and coins towards the huge crowd of devotees. It was a delight to watch the competition among the devotees, to catch the ladoos and chakkulis. After the procession, the clay idol was immersed in the temple lake Madhwa Sarovara, near Sri Krishna Mutt. The seers and devotees also took a dip in the holy lake.
Several tiger dance troupes participated. Inspired by artist Ravi Katpadi, several people donned unique costumes. The mythological character veshas, made their presence felt around Udupi. Police personnel were deployed in large numbers.