Mangaluru: Thousands of devotees celebrated Nagara Panchami with devotion across the district on Monday.At Kudupu Sri Anantha Padmanabha Temple, a prominent kshetra for serpent worship, the crowd was higher this year owing to the holiday declared for educational institutions and govt offices. Temple trustee Bhaskar Moily told TOI they witnessed a higher number of devotees visiting the temple at different times of the day.He said the temple sees a large number of devotees every year during Nagara Panchami, due to its popularity among devotees.Geeta from Nepal, who has been residing in the city’s Nandiguuda for the past 30 years, has been visiting Kudupu temple every year for Nagara Panchami celebrations. “We celebrate Nag Panchami in Nepal as well. But here its large scale and different — it feels nice to perform puja here,” she told TOI.Similar celebrations were held at Kukke Subrahmanya, various temples and Nagabanas across the district.At Kukke temple, around 50,000 people came on Sunday evening and around 40,000 came on Monday, said temple executive officer Aravinda Ayyappa Suthagundi.“Ashlesha Bali Puja was less this time as the festival did not coincide with Ashlesha Nakshatra. However, special pujas were performed, and devotees offered milk,” he said. After the Mahapuja in the noon, the chief priest of the temple, Vedamurthy Seetharama Yedapadithaya, performed special ‘Ksheerabhisheka’, ‘Panchamritabhisheka’, ‘Seeyalabhisheka’ and ‘Jalabhisheka’ to the Nagaraja in the Nagapratishtha Mantapa.Meanwhile, special ‘Naga Puja’, ‘Nagathambila’ and ‘Panchamrutha Abhisheka’, was performed at Kadri Sri Manjunatha Temple, under the leadership of the temple’s chief priest Raghavendra Bhat. This time, thousands of devotees had arrived at the Kadri Kshetra as Sankramana coincided with Nagar Panchami. Around 5,000 devotees received annaprasadam offered at the temple.
