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Krishna Janmashtami celebration in Udupi 2017 : State gearing up for the festival

Krishna Janmashtami celebration in Udupi 2017 : State gearing up for the festival

Janmashtami or Shri Krishna Janmashtami is a festival which is celebrated by the people all over India in different ways. It is a festival being celebrated specially by the people of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and many more. Now its time for Udupi to set the stage for Sri Krishna Janmashtami and Sri Krishna Leelotsava (popularly known as ‘Vittal Pindi’)  and to celebrate on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

During this festival, Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple is always the center of attraction in this festival. The upholder of Dwaita philosophy Sri Madhwacharya is believed to have installed the idol of Lord Krishna at the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple here nearly 800 years ago. The temple is decorated every year beautifully with flowers for the festival. Different competitions take place and the centre of attraction is the Muddu Krishna competition where children dress like Lord Balakrishna. This year, the competition will take place at Rajangana Parking Space and Anna Brahma Hall from 10 am onwards.

If sources are to be believed, then the event will be held in three categories; firstly for the children of zero to three years- Muddu Krishna Competition, then for the children of three to five years-Balakrishna Competition and lastly for the children of five to eight years- Kishore Krishna Competition. In this festival, for about 1.5 lakhs ‘Chakkulis’ and 75000 laddoos are prepared each of four varieties, Aralu, Gundittu, Yellu and Kadle and are distributed to the devotees.

The main attraction of the festival is the Vittal Pindi that is the carrying of the clay idol of Lord Krishna in the golden chariot on the Car Street. 16 wooden ‘gopuras’ are erected along Car street. Earthen pots containing milk and other milk products are hung from these gupuras and people dressed in folk costumes break the pots with sticks which is known as ‘mosaru kudike.’ ‘Huli Vesha’  who are the dancers add colour to the whole event. A competition of ‘huli vesha’ dancers and other folk teams will be held at Rajangana followed by the large number of devotees having meals during the ‘Anna Santharpane’ on the next day. It is a huge festival in Udupi with joy of celebrations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Priyanka sarangi

Journalist by profession, music lover by passion. Love to write and edit content on different topics of entertainment beat. Love to travel but only with my favorite people.