Chamarajanagara: Generally, Gowri is celebrated at homes by inviting women and ladies home by installing a Gowri idol. However, in Kuderu the Gowri festival is celebrated very uniquely for times immemorial.
In Kuderu, the Gowri festival is a public celebration at the local Swarnagowri Temple. Here the ladies and women gather at the temple and worship her in variety of ways without any caste discrimination instead of installing the Goddess’ idol at home to worship.
As part of festive celebrations, the devotees prepare a Gowri idol out of sand at the bank of Doddakere, Yamuna river. This idol is then taken on a procession around the town during the festival and then installed at the temple. On the fifth day, the sand idol of Gowri is replaced with Gowri idol made of gram flour and then the idol is covered with a gold armour and bejewelled.
All the 12 days when the idol is installed in the temple, the worship is being held. In the beginning the couple offer the Baagina, a form of service. Few childless couples even offer gold and silver cradle as vow. The unmarried girls offer mangalasutra as offering praying for an early marriage. Apart from this, the devotees offer services such as deepotsava and deeparadhane among others.
Earlier, the Gowri known as gramflour Gowri today is known as Swarnagowri as she is adorned with jewels and covered with gold armour.
