BENGALURU: Many temples, both big and small, across the state remained closed on Tuesday due to the solar eclipse during the Deepavali festival, the festive moon.
Major temples in the city such as Annamma temple, Banashankari temple, Kadu Malleshwara temple, Gavi Gangadeshwara temple and Gaali Anjaneya temple, will remain closed with blades of grass (darbe) being placed on the deity during the solar eclipse. Devotees will be allowed to visit the temples only after 7 pm.
The Ranganathaswamy temple and Nimishamba temple at Srirangapatna, the Manjunatheshwara temple at Dharmasthala remained closed during the solar eclipse. The Chamundeshwari temple at Mysuru allowed devotees to visit the temple till noon, and a special puja was performed during the solar eclipse. Temples in Ramanagara district were also closed during the solar eclipse.
The Kukke Subrahmanya temple and Ghati Subramanya temple, Sigandur Chowdeshwari temple in Shivamogga district, Hampi Virupaksha temple, and Hasanamba temple remained closed and will reopen to devotees on Wednesday morning after a special puja.
Kadri Manjunath temple, Shaneshwara temple near Navarang in Bengaluru, Gokarna Mahabaleshwar temple, and temples in Dakshina Kannada district, were open during the solar eclipse and special pujas and homa were performed.
The partial solar eclipse on October 25, during Deepavali, the festive new moon, was the last of the calendar year. In India, the eclipse started 5.12 pm, reached its peak at 5.49 pm and ended at 5.55 pm, close to sunset.