Mangaluru, August 7, 2016: Nagara Panchami, one of the sacred festivals of coastal Karnataka, was celebrated with pomp and geity on Sunday. It is the first festival in Shravan month (fifth day after the new moon of Shravana month) as per Hindu calendar.
Devotees thronged to temples and snake pits to worship Serpent God. Kukke Shree Subramanya temple, Kudupu Shree Anantha Padmanabha Temple and Anantha Padmanabha temple at Manjeshwara are famous temples dedicated to Naga where Nagara Panchami was celebrated in a grand manner. In fact, there was a ‘serpentine’ queue of devotees at various temples across the district to offer pooja to the idols of Naga and seek his blessings for the well being of the family.
The devotees offered milk, tender coconut, honey, turmeric and flowers to the idols of Naga. In fact, devotees had started gathering at Kudpu temple since early morning to offer special pooja at the temple.
The ‘naga bana’ situated at the backyard of Kudpu Shree Anantha Padmanabha Temple saw thousands of devotees carrying tender coconut, milk, honey etc to offer it to the god. Special poojas like ‘Panchamrutha abhisheka,’ ‘Naga Thambila’ were offered by the devotees to the God.
A large number of devotees also visited Sharau Mahaganapathy temple and offered their offerings to Naga idol outside the temple.
Apart from the poojas in the temples, special prayers were also offered at most of the ‘nagasbanas’ installed in the backyard of houses, localities etc.