By IANS,
Bangalore : Millions of devotees across Karnataka Thursday celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with traditional gaiety and fervour. Undeterred by cloudy weather and heavy rains in many parts of the state, people thronged temples since morning to worship the deity amid hymns and devotional songs.
The festival was also celebrated at homes and residential localities across cities and towns with idols on huge makeshift rostrums (pandals).
In India’s tech hub, Bangalore, thousands of traditionally attired people visited the Dodda Ganesh temple in the upscale Basavangudi and offered flowers, fruits, and modak, a sweetmeat stuffed in wheat-based dough.
Touted to be the biggest (dodda) idol in the city, the 18-foot-high and 16-foot-wide monolith is built on a boulder hill in the Bugle Rock garden.
Ganesh temples in other localities of the city also witnessed a heavy rush of devotees till late afternoon.
With the festival coming a day after the Muslim festival Eid-ul-Fitr, police kept enhanced vigil near temples, markets and sensitive areas to maintain law and order across the state.
State governor H.R. Bhardwaj and chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda greeted the people on the occasion and wished them peace, prosperity and happiness.
Though incessant rains and strong winds affected the movement of people and vehicles in coastal districts and parts of the Malnad region, the festive spirit was not dampened.