TRADITIONAL: Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji of Shiroor Math being taken in a horse-drawn carriage for his ‘Pura Pravesha’ in Udupi on Friday.

Udupi: Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji of Shiroor Math, who will ascend the Paryaya Peetha on January 18 here, was given a rousing reception on his “pura pravesha” on Friday, which was preceded by a pre-Paryaya tour.

A large number of people gathered to welcome the swamiji. The procession of the seer began from Sharada Mantapa at about 5 p.m. Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji, who arrived from Hiriyadka village, offered prayers at Mahishamardhini Temple at Kadiyali here. He then sat on a decorated horse carriage behind a golden palanquin carrying the presiding deity of Shiroor Math, Anna Vittala, for the procession.

Just then, a helicopter hovered over Kadiyali and showered flower petals on the palanquin, horse carriage and the procession. The helicopter circled the procession thrice and showered flower petals. Besides flowers, pamphlets containing Sanskrit “subhashitas” were dropped from the helicopter.

The procession passed through the City Bus Stand, Service Bus Stand, Triveni Ciricle, Head Post Office Road and Sanskrit College before culminating at the Car Street. Traditionally dressed folk artistes and others added colour to the procession. The teams that participated in the procession included “Huli Vesha,” a women’s team from Kerala, “Markal Kunitha, “Dollu Kunitha,” Karaga Nritya,” trumpets, band-sets, team carrying coloured umbrellas, giant dancing dolls and bhajan teams. Behind these teams were vehicles carrying portraits of Vishwothama Tirtha, Lakshmindra Tirtha, Kanakadasa, Bhootaraja, Raghavendra, Vadiraja, Madhwacharya, Mukhyaprana (Hanuman), Krishna and Vittala.

After the procession culminated at the Car Street, Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji had “dhuli darshan” of Lord Krishna through the “Kanakana Kindi”.

He then visited the temples of Sri Chandramouleshwara, Sri Ananteshwara and Sri Krishna and offered prayers to the deities. He was greeted by Sugunendra Swamiji of Paryaya Puttige Math at the entrance of Sri Krishna Math.

Lakshmivara Tirtha swamiji then came to the entrance of Shiroor Math and offered “navagraha dana” and prayers before entering his (Shiroor) Math.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda, MP, and Raghupati Bhat, MLA, were present.

Udupi: The “pura pravesha” of Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji of Shiroor Math, who will be ascending the Paryaya Peetha for a third time on January 18, will take place here on January 1. The Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) will accord a civic reception to the seer on the same day.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, the Dewan of Shiroor Math, Latavya Acharya, said that the “pura pravesha” of the next Paryaya swamiji was an important event before the Paryaya festival.

Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji will arrive in Udupi at 3 p.m. on January 1 after completing the customary pre-Paryaya tour to holy places. The seer will offer prayers at Sri Mahishamardini temple at Kadiyali here at 3.45 p.m. The “pura pravesha” procession will begin from Sharada Mantapa Circle at 4 p.m. The swamiji will join the procession at Kadiyali.

The presiding deity (“pattada devaru”) of Shiroor Math, Anna Vittala, will be carried in a golden palanquin as part of the procession. Various folk and cultural teams will participate in the procession which will go via Kalsanka, city bus-stand, Triveni Circle and Sanskrit College before reaching Car Street at 6.30 p.m.

The seer will have a “darshan” of lord Krishna at the Kanakana Kindi at 6.45 p.m. He will then offer prayers at the Chandramouleshwara temple, Ananteshwara temple and Sri Krishna Math/temple.

The seer will be accorded a civic reception by the Udupi CMC at the Vadiraja Mantapa in Car Street at 7 p.m. Sugunendra Tirtha Swamiji of Paryaya Puttige Math will preside over the function. Home Minister V.S. Acharya will be the chief guest.Earlier, in the day the seer will be given a civic reception at Shiroor village in Udupi district, where the “moola” Shiroor Math is located, at 1 p.m. The people of Hiriyadka village will accord a civic reception to the seer at 2 p.m., Mr. Latavya Acharya said.

Udupi: The issue of preparations for the Paryaya festival dominated the general body meeting of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) here on Wednesday.

Raising the issue, councillor M.R. Pai sought to know if the CMC was preparing for the Paryaya festival. The CMC president, Dinakar Shetty, said that repair and upgrading work on roads, drains and footpaths was progressing at a brisk pace. The district administration had decided to make Car Street a vehicle-free zone. Consequently it was making parking arrangements on almost all roads leading to Car Street, he said.

Councillor Mohan Upadhya said that a lot of tourist buses were parking at a ground near Kalsanka. A large number of tourists had been coming to the city to visit the Sri Krishna Math/temple in the last few days. Proper drinking water and toilet facilities should be provided, he said.

Intervening, Mr. Shetty said that usually vehicles were parked behind Rajangana. Since that area was being developed and the drainage system there was being upgraded, the vehicles were being parked near Kalsanka. He said that drinking water facility was available at Kalsanka and that additional temporary toilet facilities would be provided. Shyamprasad Kudva, councillor, said that some days ago, some tourists could not secure accommodation. There would be a further increase in the number of tourists before the Paryaya festival began. Therefore, it was necessary to ask some temples and schools in the city to make arrangements to accommodate the tourists, he said.

Mr. Pai said mobile phone transmission towers were mushrooming in the city. While giving permission for such towers to be set up, the stability of the building and health risks should be taken into account. He said that last year a tower collapsed in Manipal. According to him, annual fees should be collected from the companies installing the towers, he said.

CMC Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak said that as many as 78 towers were there in the city. Four more applications had come up before the CMC and the applicants had been told to follow the guidelines, he said.

To a question by councillor Kiran Kumar, Mr. Shetty said that funds were being allotted for the development of notified areas. Most of the funds were being utilised to develop the roads in these areas, he said. CMC vice-president Indira Shekhar was present. Earlier, the members of CMC observed a minute’s silence to mourn the deaths of actor Vishnuvardhan, singer C. Ashwath and BJP MLC S. Kailash.

Udupi: Members of Udupi District Wine Merchants Association staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here on Tuesday to protest against Government’s decision to open 463 MSIL outlets to sell liquor in eight districts, including Udupi.

Udupi: The Brahmavar-based Crossland College has secured four ranks in the Arts stream of the Mangalore University, examinations for which were held during April-May, 2009, its principal S.K. Samuel said in a press release here on Tuesday.

Students who secured ranks are Anitha D’Souza - first rank; Darshana Jacob Mathews - third rank; Ramya Shastri - fourth rank; and her brother Ravi Shastri secured sixth rank.

Udupi, December 28: Entrepreneur Pramod Madhvaraj inaugurated 2 day fine art exhibition ’Art Beat-09’ held at Kidiyur fine art school, Kunjibettu.

N.S.Pattar, HOD of fine art, Mangalore Mahalasa art school, Ayurveda expert Dr.R.Shreepati and others were present.

Baidoor, December 28: A Qualis car and a school bus collided with each other infront of Venkatramana temple of Shirur NH17. As a result, the car driver died on the spot.

The car was going towards Udupi and the bus was going towards Bhatkal. The deceased is identified as Anand (30) of Bangalore Kamakshipalya. The accident occurred on Sunday at 2.30pm.

The driver Anand was seriously injured after the accident. He breathed his last when he was taking to the hospital. Three persons who were traveling in Qualis were seriously injured.

The injured are identified as Shivanna (40), Dhanalaxmi (38), Sharath (10), Udaya (19), Jayaram (38), Lavanya (13) and Nazarath (17).

Injured are admitted in Kundapur private hospital. Case has been registered.

Udupi: A documentary titled “Buying confidence on credit”, produced jointly by the Justice K.S. Hegde Institute of Management, Nitte, and York University, Canada, will be released at Nitte in Udupi district on Saturday.

A press release issued by the institute here stated that the documentary captured the impact of self-help groups (SHGs), including those promoted by Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) and Stree Shakti, on empowering of women in select villages in Dakshina Kannada. Views of eminent personalities such as Chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council C. Rangarajan, president of SKDRDP D. Veerendra Heggade and former Chairman of Syndicate Bank N.K. Thingalaya on the role of SHGs in bringing about socio-economic changes in rural areas had been included in the documentary.

Executive Director, Bank of India, Mumbai, M. Narendra will release the documentary. Chancellor of Nitte University N. Vinay Hegde will preside over the function.