Belthangady : The annual Laksha Deepotsava (1 lakh lights festival) of Dharmasthala starts on Thursday, Nov.28 and will continue till Dec. 3, Tuesday. Lacks of devotees are accepted to throng the precincts of the holly and historic Sri Dharmasthala temple, to watch a lakh of earthen lamps at night for a week from now.

Cultural activities will be a special feature of this festival of lights on a large scale, with music singing and dances apart from Yakshagana.

An All Religions Conference and a Kannada Literary Conference are scheduled to take place during this period in the afternoon.

An exhibition of arts, science and ancient materials would be opened on Nov.28 at the SDM High School Stadium will be inaugurated by  Fr James D’Souza, Parish Priest of Holy Redeemer Church of Belthangady.

Dr D Veerendra Heggade,Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala will preside over the function. A variety of programmes including magic show and devotional and light music concerts will be held in the evenings.

Devotees of Lord Manjunatha from all over India, especially Jain’s will be attracted to this festival of Lights every day. The holly place of pilgrimage serves food free of charge to all devotees on all these days.