Devotees rushing towards the Brahmakundike to collect 'teertha' after the 'Teerthodbhava' occurrence at Talacauvery in Kodagu on Thursday.

Madikeri, October 18, 2013: The grand spectacle of ‘Teerthodbhava’, symbolising the emergence of holy water (teertha) from the ‘Brahmakundike’, a tiny niche, at Talacauvery in Kodagu, unfolded at the foot of the Brahmagiri Hills at 12.02 p.m. on Thursday, amid the chanting of Vedic hymns by priests.

Thousands thronged the spot chanting ‘Jai Jani Matha, Cauvery Matha…..’ and men with tonsured heads jumped into the main pond in front of the Brahmakundike to catch a glimpse of the occurrence.

Teerthodbhava was predicted to occur at 12.01 p.m. A large number of devotees had occupied the vantage points at Talacauvery much ahead of the scheduled time. Anil, one of the visitors, toldThe Hindu that the number of visitors was less compared to last year. Manu Muthappa, president of the Bhagandeshwara-Talacauvery temple management committee, said every thing went off as scheduled.

Priests from Sullia, led by Ananta Kedilaya, performed a special puja before the teerthodbhava. The absence of rainfall provided a perfect platform for celebrations. The police managed to prevent devotees who would have entered the main pond by breaking the police cordon.

Devotees are streaming into Bhagamandala, the first of the twin pilgrim places, where they are taking holy dips at the Triveni Sangama — the confluence of Cauvery, Kannike and Sujyoti. After offering prayers to Lord Ganapathi, Bhagandeshwara, Maha Vishnu and Subramanya, they will proceed towards Talacauvery, located about 8 km away towards the Brahmagiri Hills.

The team of priests who kept chanting hymns collected and threw the ‘teertha’ on the devotees who had thronged the ‘sanctum sanctorum’ as soon as it emerged from the Brahmakundike. Teertha being collected by the Kodava Samaja units and Kodagu Gowda Samaja units, among others, was distributed among the people across the district and the State. Television news channels beamed the event live.

The Kodva Makkada Koota and the Kodava devotees from Kalakeri-Nidugane near Madikeri performed the ‘dudikott paat’ (beating of small Kodava traditional drums) near the Brahmakundike. Artistes Nirmala Bopanna, Rekha Sridhar, B.A. Ganesh sang songs. It was followed by a Nadaswara performance by Padmanabha from Melukote and bhajans by the Sri Ramanjaneya Bhajana Mandali, Madikeri. Dollu Kunita performance outside the precincts of the shrine was the added attraction this year.

The temple committee had organised food to the devotees at the auditorium belonging to the temple near the shrine since morning, for the second consecutive year. The district police had made elaborate security arrangements by deploying nearly 300 policemen, 40 officers and nearly 100 home guards. Parking too went off without a hitch at Bhagamandala and Talacauvery.

Several buses operated from Madikeri and surrounding places to Bhagamandala and Talacauvery on Thursday. Toilets facilities were provided at both places and health teams kept ready to tackle emergencies.

A.H. Vishwanath, MP; K.G. Bopaiah, MLA; Anurag Tewari, Deputy Commissioner; M.N. Anucheth, Superintendent of Police, and Mr. Muthappa were present.

Source: The Hindu, October 18, 2013