Mysuru, 30 June

Chief Minister (CM) Siddaramaiah on Monday offered the traditional bagina to the Cauvery River at the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam in Mandya district, becoming the first CM to do so in June — an occurrence last recorded 84 years ago.

Thanks to copious rainfall in the Cauvery basin and neighbouring Kerala, the KRS dam reached its full level of 124.8 feet on 29 June, marking the earliest such occurrence since 1960.

Siddaramaiah was accompanied by Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Mandya District Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy, Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa, and MLAs Tanveer Sait, Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, D Ravishankar, and Harishgowda.

The ritual involved offering bagina — bamboo baskets containing coconut, jaggery, turmeric, betel, grains, and other items. A total of 40 baginas were prepared by a team of priests led by scholar Bhanuprakash Sharma. Special homas and pujas were also conducted near the Cauvery idol.