Bengaluru to witness Karaga tonight

By: Pavan Kumar Pateel
BENGALURU: The city flagship festival, Bengaluru Karaga, is set to head into its climactic stage with the Draupadi Devi Karaga Shakthyotsava to be held post Thursday midnight.
The procession will roll out of Shri Dharmarayaswamy Temple, Thigalarpet, at 12.30am. The nightlong spectacle, where the Karaga, an earthen pot bedecked in flowers, will be carried by poojari Jnanendra will pass through various bylanes of the old city. It will cover the streets of Ulsoorpet, Nagarthpet, Cubbonpet, Ganigarapet, Avenue Road, Doddapet, Aralepet, Balepet, Kumbarpet and Gollarapet before returning to the temple.
The Karaga will also receive aratis from temples en route and visit the Hazrat Tawakkal Mastan Saheb Dargah in Cottonpet, where Veerakumaras perform the rituals of alaguseve (service with the sword) and Muslims will receive the blessings from the Karaga.
Nearly 5,000 Veerakumaras will accompany the Karaga and perform alaguseve at different spots in front of the Karaga. Karaga poojari A Jnanendra Vahnikula Gowda, 38, will be carrying it for the 12th consecutive year. As part of the annual festival, thousands of devotees on Tuesday offered traditional puja to Draupadi Devi at Shri Dharmarayaswamy Temple.
K Satish, president of Shri Dharmarayaswamy Temple committee and Bengaluru Karaga Samithi, said, "We witnessed over 10,000 women devotees perform the Arati Deepotsava. For the procession, we expect nearly 6-8 lakh people, but the number may go up."