Hoovina Arti : the woman's day in Karaga

A powerful wave of  jasmine smell hits you if  come to  Dharmaraya temple at K R Market on 6th day  of the Bangalore Karaga ( wikilink) fair celebrations . Every corner of the temple is jeweled by ladies in  colorful sarees with  jasmine covered oil lamps  in hand!  These lamps are not just ordinary lamps , they are piece of art with carefully  detailed jasmine flower on bamboo towers carried on   steel vessel where the oil lamps with rice and jaggery sweets kept inside . Then every lamp is  different by  the use of LED lights , different colors , variety in design and shapes but decorated by mainly Jasmine flowers  .

Hoovina Arti  day is completely owned by Thigala women . The preparing arti begins previous day night where all of the family members help in making the arti. Some artis are so big and detailed that it might take the whole previous day to finish! Every effort is made to look their arti is different and attractive ! Now coming to the beauty part  of the Hoovina Arti bearer women one can see most gorgeous women and girls  dressed up in sparkling Indian traditional  dresses which would  make Indian womanhood proud. The  glowing jewelries , the variety of  colorful silk  sarees  , the different  designs  show for how long the ladies are waiting for this moment ! The sense of  competition , the cross eye looks  , the whisper talks , the loud discussions  , the indirect verbal attacks, the small fights , the anger , so much happening so silently and so much under the hood  which are  greatest thigala woman moments of Karaga festival!

All the Thigala women assemble with their hoovina arti  ( flower lamps) at the temple around 4 am before they go around the temple area covering many streets. They are lead by  groups of kids and youngsters performing ancient battleground arts such as sword fights , fist fights , fire plays  which symbolizes the soldiers guarding their women. Finally the procession ends in the temple  after every arti is offered to the temple god . A grand arti is held in the morning after which  everyone returns their home.

circling inside the temple	girls following their moms

The arti utsava takes its route starting from Dharmaraya Swamy Temple marches towards Kumbarapete along with Nagatherapete main road then finally ends where inside the temple. After this procession, the Maha Mangalarathi will be held in the temple by around 6 am. Along the procession the arti bearer women group are led by the men, kids performing the sword fighting, fire playing . The men group also display different battle ground techniques such as breaking coconut by sword, cutting the banana placed on chest by sword etc . This is watched by hundreds of people gathered on the streets .The men are dressed in regular costume but with  jasmine flowers around the neck

Thigala woman with silver vessel aarti

Entering the temple , the joy	different looking arti

the anticipation inside the temple	lined up to offer their arti to the god

a gorgeous looking cute kid	the amazing photographer ready to capture her dad

Location : Dharmaraya temple , K R Market , Bangalore

Type: religious

Occurrence: annual

Time : 7th day of Karaga celebrations

Hindu Calendar time: Morning of Ekadashi

How to reach :

This story is part of my ongoing project ” Folk practices of Karnataka” from years. There is a need of visual documentation of these practices as most of the practices are either dying or changing due to modern metamorphosis . I am not in the favor of starting a debate whether these practices are good or bad and it is not up to my current knowledge . So please consider this body of work as photo-documentation of the practices.

How you can help me ?

1. By reading these articles, looking at photos and sending me feedback, suggestions .
2. By spreading these articles to the world by sharing on social networks , emails etc so that an awareness is created
3. By Letting me know such practices in your region, reach if you think it deserves a visual record provided the region is Karnataka. You can send email to folkpractices@dineshmaneer.com and I will take necessary steps.
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5. By buying photos, prints, offering me shelter 😉 when I am at your place for photographing .

ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಲೇಖನಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಛಾಯಾಚಿತ್ರಗಳು ನನ್ನ ” ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಜನಪದ ಆಚರಣೆಗಳು” ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಾಜೆಕ್ಟ್ ನ ಭಾಗಗಳಾಗಿವೆ. ಶತಮಾನಗಳಿಂದ ಆಚರಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಈ ನಶಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಚಿತ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಡಿದಿಡುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನವನ್ನು ಕಳೆದ ಎರಡು ವರುಶಗಳಿಂದ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ . ಈ ಆಚರಣೆಗಳು ಸರಿಯೋ ತಪ್ಪೋ ಎನ್ನುವುದನ್ನು ಸಾರುವ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ನನ್ನದಲ್ಲ. ಅಲ್ಲದೇ ಅದು ನನ್ನ ಸದ್ಯದ ತಿಳುವಳಿಕೆಗೆ ಎಟುಕದ ವಿಷಯ. ಓದುಗರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನವನ್ನು ಆಚರಣೆಗಳ ಪರ ಹಾಗು ವಿರೋಧದ ಚರ್ಚೆಯಾಗಿ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳದೆ ಇವುಗಳ ದೃಶ್ಯದಾಖಲೆಯಾಗಿ ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದು ನನ್ನ ವಿನಂತಿ.
ನೀವು ಹೇಗೆ ನನಗೆ ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು?
1) ಈ ದೃಶ್ಯಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಓದುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ , ಸಲಹೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕೊಡುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ, ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕೊಡುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ
2) ನಿಮ್ಮ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಬಂಧುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಕೊಂಡಿಯನ್ನು (link) ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ
3) ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸನಿಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ತರಹದ ಯಾವುದಾದರು ಅಚರಣೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ
4) ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ , ಸಾಪ್ತಾಹಿಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ , ಮಾಸಿಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ, ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸುವುದರ ಮೂಲಕ
5) ಛಾಯಾಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು , ಚಿತ್ರಮುದ್ರಣಗಳನ್ನು ಖರೀದಿಸುವದರ ಮೂಲಕ

-thank you

Dinesh Maneer