Fairs and Festivals of Karnataka

With several ancient temples and rich cultural heritage, Karnataka cselebrates various colorful temples. Having a multi-religious population, many festivals are celebrated here.

¤ Festivals

Dussehra
Dusshera is the main Hindu festival of Karnataka. This ten days festival was celebrated with extravagance by the rulers of Vijayanagar Empire. Later, this became a tradition. The festival was celebrated at Mysore where a Durbar was held for 9 days and on the 10th day a huge procession was taken out with decorated elephants, colorful folks and much more. It is still celebrated in Mysore with great pomp and show.

Yugadi
Yugadi is considered as the New Year's Day in Kannada tradition. It falls on the late March or early April and is celebrated all over Karnataka. On this day the dinner is specially prepared and it starts with jaggery and neem leaves. This depicts that life is nothing but a bundle of joys and sorrows.

Karaga
This festival is mainly celebrated at the Darmaraya Temple in Bangalore. It is celebrated on the full moon day of Chaitra, the first month of Hindu Calendar. This festival is celebrated in the honor of Draupathi, the spouse of Pandavas, famous religious characters from the great Hindu epic, Mahabharata.

¤ Other Hindu Festivals

Some of the other Hindu festivals that are celebrated in Karanataka along with the rest of the country are Makara Samkramana, Sri Ramanavami, Sri Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi and Deepavali.


¤ State Festivals

Rajyotsava Day
The Rajyotsava Day is celebrated on the 1st of November every year. This day marks the formation of the Karnataka State. Apart from this, other state festivals celebrated here are the Coorg festival, Hampi/Vijayanagar festival and the Hoysala festival. These festivals celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Karnataka.

¤ Other Religious Festivals

Karnataka has a multi-religious population. Thus, festivals of all religions are celebrated here. Some of the Muslims festivals celebrated here are Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Milad-un-Nabi and Moharrum. Christians residing in the state celebrate festivals like Christmas, Easter, Good Friday etc along with the rest of the nation. Buddhist and Jain festivals like Buddha Poornima and Mahaveera Jayanthi are also celebrated in certain regions of the State.


¤ Fairs

Sri Vithappa Fair
This fair is held in the honour of Vithappa, the deity of the village, Vithappa. It is a three days festival and about 7 to 8 thousand people gather during the fair. This fair has a religious and folk importance.

The Godachi Fair
The Godachi fair is held at Godachi village in Ramdurg Taluk of Karnataka. It is held in the month of Kartik This fair is held in the honour of Shri Veerabhadra and it is organized by the government of Karnataka.

Shri Yellamma Devi Fair
Shri Yellamma Devi fair is held at Saundatti. It is held for about 5 times between October and February. But the Margasira is the biggest one, which is held on the full moon day.

Banashankari Devi Fair
The Banashankari Devi fair is held near Badami. It is an annual fair held in the month of January on the full moon day. This fair lasts for 10 to 12 days. At the fair, villagers buy agricultural items, utensils and other articles of domestic needs.