B’luru readies for 11-day Karaga from March 29  

BENGALURU: The 11-day annual Bengaluru Karaga festival will begin on March 29, and the Karaga will be held on April 6, 2023, said BBMP officials on Tuesday. Accordingly, the BBMP officials said they will be approving Rs 75 lakh for this year’s Karaga and will also release an advance amount of Rs 40 lakh from the previous year’s balance amount.

Dharmarayaswamy Temple Trust president K Satish and MLA Uday Garudachar attended the preparatory meeting organised by BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath at the Palike head office on Tuesday, where the Bengaluru Karaga poster was also released, along with the programme schedule. 

Speaking to reporters, Girinath said the Karaga festival will start from March 29 by hoisting of the Rathotsava flag. The main Karaga will be held on the night of April 6. He said the Dharmarayaswamy Temple Trust had appealed to the BBMP to allocate funds for the distribution of fruits this time to all the devotees as the festival falls during summer. 

“We will offer fruits to about 5,000 Veerakumaras, Vanikula Kshatriya community members, and the general public, who will come to witness the Karaga, with the additional funds. No political banners will be put up during the festival due to the Model Code of Conduct,” Satish said. 

Garudachar said that although the Model Code of Conduct will be in place by then, the festival will go on peacefully without many restrictions and the Karaga will stop at the Hazrat Tawakkal Mustan Saheb Dargah at Cottonpet for a brief period early in the morning, as a symbol of religious harmony. The festival will conclude on April 8.