Mangaluru: The nine-day long Dasara festivities concluded with a grand procession of idols and tableaux along with dances by various folk artistes here, at the Kudroli Gokarnanatheswara Temple and Mangaladevi Temple on Friday.
The two processions that went on till the early hours of Saturday was witnessed by the people of the coastal city who gathered in large numbers. There will be another procession to mark the end of Dasara celebrations on Car Street on Saturday evening.
The procession of Navadurga idols and tableaux as a part of ‘Shobha Yatra’, was behind schedule at the Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple. It took nearly three hours to perform the puja to each of the Durga idols installed at the temple and then put them on the vehicles remodelled as chariots.
Senior Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary felicitated a host of people, including district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai and Health Minister U.T. Khader. The procession of idols and tableaux started around 7.30 p.m.
After passing the Kudroli temple, the procession passed thorough Mannagudda, Lalbagh, PVS Circle, Hampankatta, University College, Ganapati High School Road and Alake. The procession was likely to end by 6 a.m. on Saturday.
A tableau of Hulivesha (men painted like tigers, dancing) and other tableaux depicting various cultural forms of the region, led the procession. The last in the procession was the chariot carrying the idol of Mangaladevi.
