Festivals of Karnataka

Characterized by a multi-religious population, Karnataka celebrates a host of festivals to commemorate its cultural heritage and various ancient temples.

With around 84% of the total population being Hindu, Dussehra is a grand affair at Karnataka. The festival has been celebrated with great fanfare and extravagance since the time of Vijayanagar Empire. This ten days celebration was adopted as a tradition later. In Mysore, the way to celebrate the festival differed from Vijaynagar as a royal court or Durbar was held there for 9 days. A huge procession was then taken out on the tenth day with decorated elephants, colorful folks and much more.

Another grand celebration takes place in the form of Yugadi in Karnataka. Considered as the New Year's Day in Kannada tradition, Yugadi is celebrated in the most extravagant manner in late March or early April. A special dinner is prepared for the occasion is served to all the guests and family membres. One very special feature of this dinner is that the first course starts with jaggery and neem leaves which metaphorically mean that life is nothing but a bundle of joys and sorrows.

Celebrated at Darmaraya Temple in Bangalore, to honor Draupadi, wife of Pandava kings of Mahabharata fame, Karaga is a religious festival of Karnataka that is celebrated on the full moon day of Chaitra, the first month of Hindu calendar.

Apart from these, the state of Karnataka also celebrates some of the major Hindu festivals namely Makara Sankrnti, Sri Ramanavami, Sri Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi and Deepavali.

Karnataka also has some state festivals that are celebrated to bring the entire state together to rejoice in its integrity. One of the major state festivals is the Rajyotsava Day which is celebrated to mark the foundation of the state as an independent one. Some of the other state festivals celebrated here come as a celebration of the ancient culture of the dynasties that ruled Karnataka in the past. These festivals include Coorg festival, Hampi/Vijayanagar festival and the Hoysala festival.

Owing to its multi-religious population, Karnataka also celebrates some festivals related to various other religions. Some of the Muslim festivals celebrated here include Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Milad-un-Nabi and Moharrum. Christmas, Easter and Good Friday etc are also celebrated by the Christian population of the state. Buddha Purnima and Mahaveer Jayanti are also celebrated by the Buddhists and Jains respectively in certain regions of the State.