Minister for Social and Backward Classes Welfare Kota Srinivas Poojary performed ‘gau pooja’ (worship of cow) as part of Deepavali festivities at a Dalit woman’s gaushala (cow shelter) in Udupi on November 5. The woman rears native breeds of cows.
Mr. Poojary visited the gaushala of Kamalamma, built on 3 cents of land at Ambedkar Colony in Doddamagudde, Udupi along with MLA K. Raghupathi Bhat. Ms. Kamalamma has been taking care of about 60 cows in her shelter.
The Minister washed the legs of a cow and decorated her with turmeric powder, vermilion, garland and offered food under the guidance of priest Padmanabha Acharya. Food was offered to other cows too at the shelter. Later, the Minister offered clothes and sweets to Ms. Kamalamma and her son, and a bag of cow feed from the department.
Expressing surprise at the woman’s initiative of sheltering such a large number of cows in a limited space, Mr. Poojary offered to provide safety facilities to the gaushala on the request of the MLA.
In other places, people performed ‘gau pooja’ in their homes while temples under the Muzrai Department across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts performed the ritual. Managing committees of several prominent temples, including Kukke Subrahmanya, Mangaladevi, Kadri Manjunatha, Mahalingeshwara in Mangaluru, and Mookambika in Kollur performed the pooja as per a government directive.
