Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Aug 26: Thousands of devotees made a beeline for the seashore on Monday August 25, which happened to be the first new moon day falling after Srikrishna Janmashtami celebrations. This occasion, also known as Ellu Amavasya or Shravana Amavasya in Kannada, is considered to be auspicious.
On this day, devotees visit Arabian sea, apart from temples like Lord Somanatha Temple in Someshwara, Narahari Parvatha, Maravanthe etc on the seashore to wash away their past deeds, invoke blessings of non-living family elders, and bathe in the blessings of the Lord.
Thousands of people from all age groups began visiting the seashore in Someshwara adjacent to Lord Somanatha Temple since long before sunrise on Monday. It is customary for the devotees to hold betel leaves and coconut in their hands, rotate them around their own heads thrice, before offering these items to the sea and then taking holy dip. It is believed this process gets rid of the ill-affects of Shanidosha (influence of planet Saturn) that might be afflicting them.
A large team of life guards and policemen keep vigil at the seashore on this day to see that reckless divers do not face any danger. The devotees, after bathing in saline water of Arabian sea, take a dip in nearby pond named as Gadateertha, before paying obeisance at the temple. On this day, most of the visiting devotees offer services like Rudrabhisheka, Kumkumarchane, Karpura Arati etc to the presiding deity and family deities in the temple.
Normally, Shravana Amavasya falls either during August end or September first week, which coincides with the time farmers begin weeding their fields. Perhaps, considering the need to acquire sickles to clear weeds and gather greens for the cattle, a practice followed by devotees visiting Someshwara is to buy sickles there. Sensing an opportunity of doing brisk business, blacksmiths engaged in manufacture of sickles arrive here a day in advance from far off places like Uppinangady, Beltangady, Kundapur etc to sell their wares.
Shravana Amavasya is known as Ellu Amavasya because of the practice of offering homage to deceased elders in the family on the seashore in the form of oblation of sesame seeds (Ellu in Kannada).