DAVANAGERE: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said that the State Government has decided to introduce ‘Tungabhadra aarti’ on the banks of the Tungabhadra river at Harihar town similar to the popular ‘Ganga aarti’ of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Speaking to the media, Bommai said Harihar will be developed into a major pilgrimage and tourist centre in the coming days. Bommai also laid the foundation stone for ‘108 yoga mantapas’, the first-of-its-kind in South India, worth Rs 30 crore on the banks of the Tungabhadra river near Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Harihar. The project was proposed by Panchamasali gurupeetha head Vachananda Swami.
On pollution of rivers
Bommai stressed the need to prevent the pollution of rivers and said all rivers in Karnataka that flow through urban areas are polluted. He said the government will frame a project to clean them, including Tungabhadra, and thus pave the way for the progress of culture.
Referring to the Sri Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor in Varanasi, he said, “Earlier, we had to search for Vishwanath temple in Kashi due to the presence of many outlets around the temple. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the destiny of Kashi and now wide corridors welcome devotees.”
Besides the 108 yoga mantapas, Hoysala’s Hari-Hareshwara temple, railway over bridge, walking path, boating, and other development works would be initiated under ‘Tungabhadra aarti’ project. Likening Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva) to two nuclear reactions, Bommai said, “Both fission and fusion are nuclear reactions that produce energy, but the processes are very different.
Fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together releasing vast amounts of energy. Similarly, this place is the combination of two energies Hari and Hara and this is the centre of devotion, spirituality, and energy,” he said.