Mangaluru: On the occasion of Lakshdeepotsava of Karthika of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Sri Manjunatha Swamy, the tenth year bhakti-bhajane padayatra of the devotees of the State from Ujire Sri Janardhana Swamy Temple to Dharmasthala Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple beganwith the Shivapankshari.
MlAs Harish Poonja, Harish Kumar and Pratapsimha Nayak and padayatra convenor Puran Varma led the padayatra and it was flagged off by Sharath Krishna Paduvetnaya of Sri Janardhana Devasthanam.
Vedamurthy Srinivasa Holla offered prayers. Bhajane was performed by members of Shri Sai Bhajana Mandali. Chende, Yakshagana performers, mythological scenes, bhajana troupes, jagate and other accompaniments joined the Panchakshari chant.
More than 15,000 devotees took part in the padayatra including Dharmasthala Rural Development Project Executive Director Dr. L. H. Manjunath, Muguli Narayana Rao, Vivek Vincent Pais, Ramaswamy, Mohan Shettigar, Dhananjaya Rao, Arunkumar, Parari Venkataramana Hebbar, Pushpavathi R. Shetty, Mohan Kumar, Rajesh Pai, Ravikumar Baramelu, Jayant Kotian, Sharada Rai, Shashidhar Shetty, Ravi Chakkittaya, SDM Educational Institutions Secretary Dr. Satishchandra, Executive Officer Harish M. Y., lecturers, students, Baduku Kattona Banni team workers, Bhajana Mandali as well as women and activists of the Shaurya Disaster Team.
Lecturer Dr. Sridhar Bhat spoke about the purpose and plan of the padayatra and said that in the tenth year of the padayatra, devotees from all over the country participated in the padayatra which was launched in the backdrop of devotion to arouse the virtuous forces by killing evil forces. Ujire and Dharmasthala are inextricably linked. He wished that devotional bhajans would inspire the progress of the country and thus wished them good luck for the padayatra.
The devotees, who had taken out a padayatra were welcomed at the entrance by Harshendra Kumar at Dharmasthala.
Several precautionary measures were taken for the yatra, including security forces, ambulances and colds drinks. All the arrangements were handled by a team of volunteers.
