On Monday midnight, the old areas of Bangalore will spring to life to lay out a red carpet to the return of Draupadi, to earth in what is described as the city’s flagship festival, Dharmarayaswamy Karaga.
You could call it the Bangalore’s night of resurrection. On Monday midnight, the old areas of Bangalore around Chickpet will spring to life to lay out a red carpet to the return of Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas, to earth in what is described as the city’s flagship festival, Dharmarayaswamy Karaga.
Lakhs of people will throng the Shaktyotsava (the procession of Shakti, the mother goddess), a major stage of the 11-day Karaga on Monday night. The procession will begin around 12 midnight at the Dharamarayaswamy temple in Thigalara Pete and visit a host of temples in the central areas of the city like Cubbon Park, Lalbagh, Gollarapete, Chickpet, Cubbonpet, Nagarthpet and even a dargah, Mastan Sahib Dargah in Aralipet, before returning to the temple at the break of the dawn.
CM Lokesh will carry the Karaga for the third consecutive year. Lokesh is a printer by profession and a two-time national award winner in screen printing.
Like every year, people from different communities are expected to participate in the festivities. Celebrated by the Thigala community of southern Karnataka, Bangalore Karaga is one of the oldest festivals celebrated for over 800 years now.
“It used to be colourful in those days, but now it has become hi-tech,” said TP Venkatesh, a horticulturist who has been attending Karaga for the past 25 years.
“We women too take part actively as we make diyas and also stand by the Veerakumaras in our families. We follow all rituals like being a vegetarian throughout the 11 days of the festival,” said Shamala SM, a government teacher and social worker. Her father SM Munivenkatappa was the first to pen a book on Karaga called Karaga Mahotsava.
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