MARGAO: Margao has been clad with lighting and stalls of different types in celebration of its 106th Dindi festival. People started entering the town early evening for the all-night celebration. The palanquin of Lord Vitthal and Rakhumayee left from the Hari Mandir in the evening; it will go around the town while stopping at all temples and return to the Hari Mandir at dawn. After the Gopal Kalo at dawn, the Dindi celebrations will end.
The Dindi festival is dedicated to Lord Shree Vithal Rakhumayee and has been organised at Hari Mandir in Margao as early as 1909. The festival is celebrated on the auspicious day of ‘Kartiki Ekadashi’ and the programs are on the lines of the mohotsavs held in Pandharpur, Maharashtra.
For Margao, the festival is the most-awaited after Ganesh Chaturthi and Diwali, and has now become an integral part of the culture of the town. On Dindi night, tens of thousands of people from across Goa flock to Margao and enjoy the programs at the temples.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for this years Dindi celebrations given the ever-increasing popularity of the festival. The celebrations began on November 19 in the Hari Mandir and Vitthal Mandir. There was many cultural programmes at both places and also at the Ravindra Bhavan. Stalls of various products, like khajje, chaney bhikana, clothes, toys and ice cream were set up on Abade Faria road and were patronised by many people.
For the people, the celebrations will end with a fireworks show at the Margao center. But for the temples, the celebration ends as late as 3 am, when the palanquin of the Hari Mandir meets at the Vitthal Mandir in Comba, which is followed by bhajans and prasad.
