Heritage of Coastal Karnataka: The rare 'rangoli festival' of Maruti temple, Karwar

Maruthi temple, Karwar

Karwar is a small coastal town of Karnataka and has now gained a prominent label in the national map of India because of the newly commissioned ‘INS Kadamba’ base of Indian Navy. Besides several others, the annual festivals or ‘jathras’ of the local temples are the special attractions of this town. Each such jathra has its own specialties and unique features. The festival of Maruthi temple stands out due to its associated ‘rangoli’ art. Beautiful rangoli arts are drawn and displayed on several streets surrounding the famous Maruthi temple during the festival night. These streets together getting transformed into a Rangoli art Gallery is, in fact, the special attraction of this jathra. Thousands of people visit this jathra only to see such rangoli arts.

During the recently concluded festival of this year, the usual rangoli paintings depicting traditional designs, Gods and Goddesses were only a few. On the contrary, portraits of film stars, sports icons and the likes, drawn in rangoli style, were in plenty. A variety of popular figures ranging from the US President Obama to the local snake catcher Marshal D’Souza were found on the streets of Karwar , this year! They did not come to see the jatra! But people came to see all these great people framed in rangoli colours.

Glimpses of this unique and rare type of Rangoli Festival of this year is provided for readers to appreciate. This is especially for the ‘ netizen’ people of Karwar who know about this festival but missed it…