Temple priest, villagers slug it out over conducting Droupadamma Karaga in Anekal

BENGALURU: The Goddess Droupadamma Karaga Utsav was held symbolically on the premises of Santemala Dharmarayaswami temple at Anekal on Thursday night after securing permission from the local tahsildar.

However, people of the locality opposed the conduct of the Karaga Utsav by the temple priest and the Vahnikula Kshatriya Seva Sangha and demanded the police to take action for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The angry villagers also gheraoed the police station and taluk office for violating prohibitory orders under Section 144.

Priest Ramesh and several others have conducted the Karaga fair. But locals opposed the conduct of the rituals and complained to Anekal police inspector Shankar Nayak who promised action against the priest and the Seva Sangha members who were involved.

Temple priest Ramesh said, “Our family is been performing the Utsav for the last 450-500 years. We have been organising the Karaga Utsav every year and it is an inherited custom to offer puja. We had made a lot of preparation for the Karaga, but the tahsildar did not give permission till the last minute. In the meantime, the police also removed all the decorations. Our family developed the temple. My intention is that there should be no break in the ceremonies and I knew that people were upset over this”.

Tahashildar Shivappa Lakshmani said, “Main priest Arjunappa, Manjunath and Chandrappa had given an application for the Karaga utsava. I got information about the temple administration from the police department and I only gave permission for symbolic celebration”.