Mangalore, January 31: Men with their faces, head and clothes covered with colours were all over the city on Tuesday suggesting it was the last day of the six-day grand car festival of Sri Venkatramana Temple on Car Street, here
Okkuli, a traditional and religious sport in which people apply colours on one another and take mass bath under water pumped from parked tankers, was the highlight of the day.
A large number of people attended it with their families suspending their businesses or taking leave from work.
The programme watched by people from nearby buildings and from the roadsides, has been a favourite with youngsters.
Many climbed on one another and some of them were tossed around as joyous devotees — mainly Konkani speaking people — participated with great enthusiasm. Parents applying colours to their children or letting their friends do so was common.
In the vicinity of the temple, men could be seen moving around in wet clothes suggesting that they had just taken part in the annual, devotional water sport.
The car festival was marked by a variety of pujas offered to the presiding idol Venkataramana.
On Monday, the fifth day of the car festival, devotees had danced as they carried the palanquin with the idol of Venkataramana in a procession. A highlight undoubtedly has been the common meals. Thousands of people accepted the prasadam each day.
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