More than eight lakh people had online darshan of goddess Hasanamba, during the annual festival, this year. The jatra mahotsava came to an end with the temple closed for the year, on Monday.
The sanctum santorum of the temple was closed as per the tradition, in the presence of officials and people’s representatives at 1.31 pm, on Monday.
Special panjina puja was performed, amid the playing of traditional musical instruments, praising goddess Hasanamba. As per the custom, naivedya was placed and flowers adorned the goddess, and the lamps were lighted, before closing the doors. Later, the ornaments that were used to decorate the deity were taken out in a procession.
The district administration had banned the entry of devotees to the temple this year, as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Covid pandemic. The temple was open from November 5 to 16. Only invited guests, dignitaries and people’s representatives were allowed inside the temple, to have darshan. Around 40,000 people had direct darshan of the deity, this year.
For the first time, the district administration introduced online darshan. More than 8.80 lakh people offered obeisance through YouTube and Facebook. However, the authorities relaxed the rules and allowed devotees into the temple on the last two days.
District In-charge Minister K Gopalaiah, Deputy Commissioner R Girish, Tahsildar Shivashankarappa, Assistant Commissioner B A Jagadish, MLA Preetham J Gowda were present when the doors were closed, on Monday. Muzrai department officials locked the doors and sealed it.
JD(S) supremo and Rajya Sabha member H D Deve Gowda, MLA H D Revanna, Ministers K S Eshwarappa, B C Patil, J C Madhuswamy, KPCC president D K Shivakumar, MLAs, judges and others had darshan of the goddess this year.
“Even though the festival was held in a simple manner, it was peaceful. More than 8.8 lakh people had online darshan. The date for the next year would be announced after consulting the experts, according to the ‘panchanga’, DC Girish said.
District In-charge Minister Gopalaiah said, “Hasanamba and Siddeshwara Swamy Jatra Mahotsava were successful. Every one extended cooperation for a simple festival this year. No untoward incident was reported during the 12-day festival.”