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Secular Dasara at Mangalore

Muslims, Christians to send festival goodies.

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Mangalore Dasara, which is known as common man’s Dasara, this time will acquire another quality that is secularism. Ten truck loads of goodies will each come from Muslim and Christian fraternity in the coastal city.

What is called as ‘Horae Kanike’ (traditionally it used to head load offerings) comprising coconuts, vegetables, pulses, cereals, spices, fruits, sugar, jaggery will be sent by these communities.
Though the main deity at Gokarnanatha temple was Shiva, the temple management took a decision 19 years ago that on the occasion of Navarathri, Durga poojas will have to be performed and ‘anna dana’ (mass feeding) should be an integral part.

“Secularity is nothing new to us. Our founder Brahamarshi Narayana Guru was the first philosopher to give a call - Onde Jaati, Onde Matha, Onde Dharma (one caste, one community and one religion) in as early as 1912 when this temple was consecrated and sanctified. Since then, even Muslim and Christian devotees have been regular visitors to this temple. This year being the centenary of the temple, the Muslim and Christian patrons of this temple have decided to send Horae Kanike for Dasara celebrations in Mangalore,” HS Sairam president of the temple management committee told DNA.

For the first time, devotees from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will also send in Horae Kanike. Devotees from Kerala, who have formed a committee to felicitate the temple, will come in big numbers as Gokarnanatha temple is the only temple Narayana Guru had sanctified outside his birth state - Kerala.

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