For a river whose flow vacillates from foaming to flaccid, the Cauvery evokes an equally diverse rash of sentiments: while the chief ministers and people of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka stake a vicious claim to its gushing waters, a surge of unifying religious fervour marks its place of origin, Talacauvery, perched on the Brahmagiri hills in the Western Ghats.

Much like every year, on the Tula Sankramana day-it fell on October 17-18 this year-thousands of devotees rushed to an unkempt shrine in Kodagu district, 350 km from Bangalore, hankering for their share of the holy water. The people came from Mysore and Mandya, Bangalore and even Tamil Nadu, where the Cauvery-one of the seven sacred rivers of Hindu mythology-snakes its way through 765 km before plunging into the Bay of Bengal. On this day, at a time painstakingly calculated by the temple priests or thakkas, water springs like a fountain from a tank called the brahmakundike and fills up a bigger tank or the pushkarini at the shrine. It is here that Goddess Cauvery is said to have appeared as a beautiful maiden millennia ago.

"We believe that at this time every year Cauvery springs from the hills, and at the auspicious time the water is believed to turn holy. It becomes tirtha (sacred)," says Gopal Acharya, 61, the chief priest, or thakka mukyasta, of the 8th century temple. This initial burst of water, people believe, can give life to a dying man, help him attain moksha.

RIVER WATER AUTHORITY: The ushering in of the Cauvery from the hills is preceded by a puja offered to the river goddess at the tank (top and bottom). The exact time of its emergence is considered auspicious and is painstakingly calculated by the temple priests.

So they sat by the tank, the bulging masses driven by faith, some dressed in Bermuda shorts and Pepe jeans. In the biting cold of the night they waited for the "auspicious" time-it lasts only a few seconds-and as the clock struck 1.22 a.m., the shrine came alive. Amid the chanting of Sanskrit shlokas in praise of Cauvery, men and women waded in neck-deep water to collect the tirtha water-in cans and Coke bottles-a must in every Kodava (residents of Kodagu, also called Coorgis) home. Building up to this chaos are the rituals that commence with the decoration of Cauvery's idol and a ceremony that is worked out with great precision to culminate in the ushering in of the river.

"It is difficult to maintain order but it's a matter of faith, so we have to handle the situation sensitively," says Superintendent of Police Umesh Kumar, who along with Kodagu District Commissioner B.S. Palaksha tried in vain to maintain calm. Even closed-circuit TV screens set up by a communications team hired this year did not help much.

The clogging starts much earlier on the 12-km winding ghat roads from Bhagamandala at the base of the hills. Here, people bathe at the triveni sangam, the confluence of rivers Cauvery, Kannike and the mythical Sujyothi, and the Kodavas offer pindadana-an offering to ancestors-after shaving their heads. "For Coorgis, the worship of Cauvery and their ancestors is very important," says Archana Muthappa, a devotee.

Elsewhere in the area, the festivities last for a month beginning with Kani puja, where flowers and gold ornaments are used extensively. This is followed by an offering of three sets of betel leaves and arecanut along with bunches of glass bangles to the goddess. A lamp is lit and the family prays with another offering of rice. Then an elderly married woman draws water from the well and prepares a meal of dosa and pumpkin curry. Liquor is banned for two days by the district administration.

SALVATION ARMY: After the puja, there's a mad rush for the sacred Cauvery water, which is believed to cure all ills and help attain moksha

What marks the worshipping at Talacauvery is the devotion among Tamil families from across the border: their number is bigger than those from Kerala, just 12 km from the hills. The animosity between the two states may be at its peak-Karnataka doesn't even telecast Tamil channels or films-"but here there is no room for such differences", says Karthik Kumar from Thanjavur. "We are here to offer obeisance to the river that feeds us. How can we be different from each other? The river does not treat us differently."

Interestingly, the Rs 2 lakh, 18-kg silver covering for the brahmakundike was donated by Sri Samayapuram Mariamman Pada Seva Mahasmasthanam temple in Chennai on October 6, at the height of the Cauvery water crisis. According to the temple managers, the Tamil devotees had to come via Kerala to avoid the violent mobs in Mandya and Mysore, who had burnt two vehicles during the protests over the sharing of Cauvery water.

"Why should there be a difference when we are here to celebrate the river that symbolises national integration and harmony?" asks K.R. Pooviah, a schoolteacher who has been visiting the shrine for the past 10 years. It is a question the chief ministers of the two states will be hard put to answer.