Madikeri (Karnataka), Oct 17 (IANS) Amid fears of the Covid-19 pandemic and vedic chants reverberating across the Brahmagiri foothills, hundreds of devotees witnessed the annual ritual – Cauvery Teerthodhbhava – on Saturday morning at the Brhamakundike.
The Theerthodbhava, an annual ritual to mark the gushing of water from a spring in a tank – Brahmakundike – in Talakaveri, considered to be the source of river Cauveri, draws devotees from not only Kodagu, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Mandya, but also the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The Teerthodbhava occurred at 7:05 a.m. on Saturday instead of its earlier prediction of 7:03 a.m. With only 350 devotees allowed to take part in the ritual, it was the most subdued event that has been witnessed in the past several years.
Religious rituals were performed from the wee hours of Saturday morning. The priests continuously chanted vedic hymns sitting in a row near the Brahmakundike.
They sprinkled holy water on the devotees soon after the Theerthodbhava occurred. Devotees arrived with cans, pots, tins and bottles to fill them with holy water.
The police had made elaborate arrangements to regulate the movement of devotees and control vehicular traffic.
The Kodagu district administration had made the necessary arrangements and the police had deployed their personnel for security around the hill temple, with barricades put up at various points.
Dozens of CCTV cameras were installed at vantage points and movement of private vehicles was regulated from Bhagamandala to Talakaveri to ease congestion.
Due to heavy restrictions, devotees were seen fighting with the police personnel to let them witness the ritual. They received support from senior BJP legislator Appacchu Ranjan, who took initiative to break open a barricade put up by the police.
Although, it led to commotion for a while, the police brought the situation under control.
–IANS
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