Car festival

Courtesy:Deccan Herald

Thousands of devotees thronged Chennappanapura village in the taluk to celebrate Jade Veerabhadraswamy rathotsava, which is being held after a gap of three years on Tuesday.

The car festival was observed by taking out a procession of the idol on the main roads. As the rathotsava is being held after a long hiatus, the whole Channappanapura village, and the surrounding 18 villages including Amachavadi were decorated with buntings and flowers for the occasion.

While the children were seen content with umpteen choices of play articles, women were seen crowding near the shops selling bangles. The sweet stall owners were doing roaring business and police security was beefed up to prevent any untoward incidents.

This temple has a long history and was said to have been built during the time of Cholas.
Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar s wife Lingarajammanni renovated the temple and currently is under the Muzrai department.

But, the temple is in a dilapidated condition due to lack of maintenance. The villagers demand of rejuvenating the temple by the state government has fallen on deaf ears.

The idol in the temple which is 12 feet high depicts the peaceful form of Lord Shiva after the samhara of Dakshabrahma. As a long braid is found on the back of the idol, it has derived the name Jade Veerabhadra.

The idol is covered with silver mask and the embellishment is done only during the rathotsava. According to mythology, it is said that Lord Shiva killed Dakshabrahma in the afternoon and hence the jatra mahotsava festival is started only at 12 noon, which is a unique feature, say the locals.

France NGO team conducted a progranmme on organic farming.

The Hindu

Saturday, Aug 07, 2004

CHAMARAJANAGAR, AUG. 6. An awareness programme on organic farming, "Sustainable agriculture and resources management," will be jointly organised by the AWARE Trust, Chamarajanagar, and Irrukalaam, France, in association with Rajiv Gandhi Youth Association, Amachavadi, in the taluk and Sneha Purushara Self-help Group at Channappanapura-Amachavadi villages in the taluk on Sunday.

A press statement by AWARE said that under the resources management programme, to be held from August 9 to 13, a lecture will be organised on dryland agricultural developments, organic farming and agricultural innovation and plantations.

Under the dryland agriculture programme, a workshop on seed survey, compost formation, wall painting and cleaning of public places will organised from August 16 to 20. Under the agricultural innovation programme, a lecture on agro-forestry orchard implementation and watershed

structure implementation will be organised from August 23 to 27.

There will be a programme on August 29 on seed display and a talk on seed and soil fertility management.

The AWARE Trust, an NGO, was launched in Chamarajanagar recently with an aim to develop the rural areas in association with Renaud De Rousiers, project coordinators, Les ATeliers du Reel, France.

The former MP K.C. Kondaiah will inaugurate the Savayava Krishi Sampanmula Kendra (Agro-Ecological Resources Centre) on Sunday. The Chamarajanagar MP, M. Shivanna; the Santhemaralli MLA, R. Druvanarayan; the zilla panchayat president, T.V. Lakshmamma; and the president of Irrukalaam, Samuel Richer, will be the chief guests.

Info provided by:Suresh Babu C M

Zurich,Switzerland