Two chariots, one god: Mushigeri’s Rathotsava rolls on in two halves

Pic: Rival Groups Pull Separate Chariots As Temple-Site Dispute Drags On; Top Seers Held Several Meetings, But Both Groups Remained Unmoved On The Rathotsava VenueGadag: For the past five years, Mushigeri in Gadag district has been witnessing an unusual sight: two Rathotsavas for the same deity rolling out at the same time — the fallout of a decades-old dispute over whether the Sharanabasaveshwar chariot should start from the old temple or the new one.
Mushigeri, a village in Ron Taluk, is home to the Sharanabasaveshwar Temple, which is located on a narrow street. About thirty years ago, the villagers decided to build a new temple in a more open area. However, this decision led to a division within the community regarding the location of the annual jatra (festival). One faction insisted on continuing the celebration at the old temple site, while the other insisted on the new venue. Despite the efforts of several seers to mediate and resolve the issue, they were unsuccessful. Eventually, a second chariot was constructed, and for the past five years, the village has held two Rathotsavas on the same day, for the same deity, but in two different locations.A shepherd, requesting anonymity, told TOI that the village had only one Sharanabasaveshwar jatra for nearly seven decades. "One month's discourse on Sharanabasaveshwar Purana was held at the Basavanna temple, and the jatra was called the Sharanabasaveshwar jatra. Since the temple was in a narrow street, all villagers took a decision to construct a bigger temple at the bus stand about three decades ago. It took almost two decades to complete the construction. In recent years, some people started to demand the Rathotsava at the new temple site, but some elders pressed to hold it at the old site," he said.A seer who attended the jatra previously mentioned that there had been debates lasting five to six years about whether another chariot should be pulled. "Social and religious events like jatras are meant to unite people. However, in this case, we were unable to achieve that unity. While there are some traditions involving the pulling of two chariots, this incident is different," he lamented.Sources at Gajendragad police station, under whose jurisdiction the village falls, said they too tried their best in the interest of public safety, but without success. "Now, we are deploying additional personnel to manage the crowd at the two temple premises," they added.Top seers' talks fall throughRajashekhar Malagitti, the former secretary of the Sharanabaveshwar Seva Samiti, acknowledged that there were differing opinions among devotees regarding the Rathotsava. "Several prominent seers from the North Karnataka region held numerous meetings with the devotees. During these discussions, neither group was willing to compromise, even on the timing of the car festival. To address the concerns of both parties, we decided to hold two chariot festivals on the same day and at the same time. This marks the fourth year that we have pulled two chariots. Now, there is no longer a significant disagreement; we pull the older chariot first at the Basavanna temple and then the new chariot at the new temple premises just a few minutes later," he explained.