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MANGALORE: The protest by CPM in Mangalore, about 100 km from the abode of Lord Subrahmanya at Kukke, did not deter 575 devotees from carrying out the controversial ritual Made Made Snana on the shasti day of Sunday.

 About 1,600 devotees took part in the three-day ritual which involves rolling on plantain leaves used by Brahmins for meals in the belief that it will cure them of skin ailments.

 The ritual was delayed as ’brahmarathas’ with the ’utsava moorthis had to make their way into the temple for abhishekha (anointment) and various sevas as part of the annual champa shasti festival. The Made Made Snana took place at 3.30pm after Brahmins had their food and the devotees rolled over the leftovers. Only on the first day, the ritual went on time at 1.30pm. On the second day, there was an hour’s delay though the ’maha puja’ got over at 12.30pm.

 The jathre, which started on Friday, ended at 8.15am on Sunday and after katte puja, the utsava moorthis of Lord Subrahmanya kept on the chariot was taken inside the temple at 10am. When various rituals associated with the utsava moorthi got over it was 2.30pm. The bamboo pieces used to draw the chariots was taken by temple authorities themselves citing shortage of bamboo sticks which is given as part of prasadam.

 This time, the tag was given 51 teams to perform seva to the ’brahmaratha’ which avoided confusion and milling crowds with each seva costing Rs 20,000. The highlight of this year was that one of the sevas was offered by Subrahmanya mutt Vidyaprasanna seer himself to the chariot.

Ban made snana, pankthi bheda: CPM

 In Mangalore, CPM carried out a protest demanding the state government to ban both Made Made Snana and ’pankthi bheda’ (offering food for Brahmins and non-Brahmins having separate seating arrangements) .

 Vasanth Achari, state secretariat member, CPM, said Made Made Snana and pankthi bheda was happening all over the state at various temples and this should be banned by the state government. "The government is not firm on introducing the Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill-2013. If the society has to progress, this bill has to be passed and made into a law," he added.