Mangaluru The Brahmakalashotsava celebrations held at Polali Sri Rajarajeshwari temple in a grand way, here on Wednesday.

The arrangements had been made on the temple premises for thousands of devotees to witness the religious ceremony held after 18 years.

Brahmakalashotsava ceremonies were led by Subrahmanya Tantry and Venkatesh Tantry and assisted by Brahmashree Vedamurthy Kodimajalu Ananthapadmanabha Upadhyaya.

The ceremonies began as early as 3.30am, with vaidika rituals. Around 4.05am, around 40 people carried the kalasha, and it was followed by 501 Kalasha Abhisheka to Sri Rajarajeshwari and 101 abhishekas to Sri Durgaparameshwari. Abhisheka was also held for parivar deities of the temple with 104 kalashas. Around 7.30am, abhisheka was held at Garbha Gudi or the sanctum sanctorum.

The entire rituals took about three-and-a-half hours, which was witnessed by thousands of devotees. Some of the devotees thronged the temple premises at midnight and reserved their seats to witness the Brahmakalashotsava being held after 18 years.

Some of the dignitaries who visited the temple on Wednesday include: Swamy Viveka Chaitanyananda of Ramakrishna Tapovana, Jayarama Bhat, managing director, Karnataka Bank and Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, U Rajesh Naik, MLA, Shobha Karandlaje MP and former minister B Ramanatha Rai, among others

A team of 60 vaidikas were working for the Brahmakalashotsava rituals from past few days. A total 1,326 kalasha abishekas were held on the last day and about 2 lakh devotees visited the temple, according to the management.

On Tuesday evening, ceremonies like mahapuja, rangapuja, utsav bali, chandramandalaratha, belli ratha and sanna rathostava were held. It was concluded with nemostava, which was done after a long gap of a decade, bhandara from Arkula Beedu was used for the nemostava.

As many as 250 cooks worked round the clock to feed lakhs of devotees at the makeshift kitchen. The menu for breakfast included idli-sambar, kadle (blackgram)-avalakki(beaten rice)-mosaru (curd) and sheera (kesari bath). In the evening, snacks like bonda, banana and tea were served. The lunch menu had pickle, alasande palya, suvarnagedde-kadale sukka, brinjal sambar, rice, saru, buttermilk, green gram payasam and laddoo.