Mangalore : Mangalore’s Gowd Saraswathi Brahmin (GSB) community is celebrating the 5-day Kodial Theru, also known as the Mangalore Car Festival, at Shri Venkataramana Temple in Car Street, which is dedicated to Lord Shri Venkataramana, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This temple, which belongs to the GSB community, is managed by the Kashi Mutt Samsthan.

One the first day of the festival, a flag bearing the image of Lord Hanuman is raised to destroy evil. The idols of the presiding deity Lord Venkateshwara and Goddess Padmavathi are taken in a golden palanquin around the temple five times to the accompaniment of music and bhajans. Later, they are placed in a Brahma Ratha, which was stationed in front of Shri Venkatarama Temple.

On the night of the fourth day, a special ritual called mriga bête is held, during which the brahma ratha with the deities are taken on a procession.

The ratharohana is the holiest of all rituals performed during the Mangalore Car Festival, during the wedding of Lord Venkataramana to Goddess Padmavathi is celebrated. The devotees climb the steps of the sanctified theru to offer flowers and fruits to the deities. A delicious meal is served to the devotees in the form of prasadam at the end of the ritual. The meal includes traditional GSB delicacies such as Dhali Thove.

On the fifth day, the devotees will pull the Brahma Ratha bearing the deities till the end of Car Street and back to the temple premises.

On the sixth day, the Okkuli is held, during which devotees  have fun, sprinkling colored water on one another. Men drink milk laced with bhang or eat laddoos with bhang. The deities are again taken on a procession, bathed in a lake at Shrinivasa Patshala Compound, and taken back to the temple. The flag is also lowered on this day to mark the end of the Car Festival.