Godavari Maha Pushkaram () was a
Hindu festival
Across the globe, Hindus celebrate a diverse number of festivals and celebrations, typically marking events from ancient India and often coinciding with seasonal changes. These celebrations take place either on a fixed annual date on the solar ...
held from 14 July to 25 July 2015. This festival occurs once every 144 years, corresponding to the 12th recurrence of the 12-year Godavari
Pushkaram
Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of rivers. It is also known as ''Pushkaralu'' (in Telugu), ''Pushkara'' (in Kannada) or ''Pushkar''.
It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in India, in the for ...
cycle.
The festival starts from the
Ashadha
Ashadha or Aashaadha or Aadi ( hi, आसाढ़ ''Āsāṛh'' or ''Āṣāḍh''; as, আহাৰ ''ahar''; or, ଆଷାଢ଼ ''Āṣāḍh''; bn, আষাঢ়; syl, ꠀꠀꠠ ''aáṛ''; ne, असार ''asār''; gu, અષા ...
(June/July) month on the
Chaturdashi
In the Hindu calendar, Chaturdashi is the 14th day (Tithi) of the waxing phase or waning phase of the moon. This is the day prior to new moon ('' Amavasya'') or full moon ('' Pournami''). It has a great significance to Bengalis, as goddess Tara app ...
day (
thithi) (14th day), when planet
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
enters the zodiac sign of
Leo.
[ The festival is "theoretically" observed throughout the twelve months that the planet remains in that sign, but the first 12 days are considered most sacred.][ The first 12 days of the Godavari Pushkaram are known as "Aadhi Pushkaram" and the last 12 days are titled "Anthya Pushkaralu". The next Maha Pushkaram will be celebrated in 2159.][
At least 27 pilgrims, 13 of them women, died and 20 others injured in a stampede at a major bathing spot on the banks of the Godavari river where a huge crowd of devotees had gathered on the opening day of 'Pushkaram' festival.
]
Etymology
"Maha" means "great" and Pushkaram
Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of rivers. It is also known as ''Pushkaralu'' (in Telugu), ''Pushkara'' (in Kannada) or ''Pushkar''.
It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in India, in the for ...
refers to the worship of the river in which the god Pushkar appears every 12 years.[ Pushakaram is spelled Pushkaralu in ]Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
, Pushkaram in Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
, Pushkara in Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
, and Pushkar in Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
.
Background
Pushkaram
Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of rivers. It is also known as ''Pushkaralu'' (in Telugu), ''Pushkara'' (in Kannada) or ''Pushkar''.
It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in India, in the for ...
is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of 12 sacred rivers. The celebration happens annually, once in 12 years along each river. Each river is associated with a zodiac sign, and the river for each year's festival is based on which sign Bruhaspathi (Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
) is in at the time. It is believed that bathing in the sacred river during Pushkaram cleanses the devotees of their sins.[
Godavari is one of the 12 sacred rivers, and the ''Godavari Pushkaram'' takes place once every 12 years, when the Jupiter is in the Leo sign. The ''Maha Pushkaram'' ("Great Pushkaram") takes place once every 144 years.
]
Festival dates
The 2015 Godavari Pushkaram is believed to be a ''Maha Pushkaram'', which happens once in 144 years. During the year 2015, Jupiter enters Leo on 14 July 2015 (Tuesday) at 6.26 AM, when the Maha Pushkaram begins, and ends after 12 days on 25 July 2015 (Saturday).
Multiple almanac
An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other ...
writers and other skeptics have disputed that the 2015 Godavari Pushkaram is a "Maha Pushkaram". According to Hanmanthavajjula Subrahmanya Sarma, the president of State Drukghanitha Almanac Writers’ Association, the "theory of 144 years is a myth", and nobody knows "who calculated it and how they calculated it".
Details of locations
The places on the banks of the Godavari River
The Godavari (IAST: ''Godāvarī'' od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshw ...
where pilgrims visit famous temples are in the five districts of Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
and Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
. The notable places ar
Manthani
Basar, Dharmapuri
Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitti ...
, Koti Lingala
Kotilingala is a Hindu pilgrimage site in Jagtial district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is situated in Velagatoor mandal of the district, on the Godavari river. It is located on the bank of the Godavari River, and has a traditional ...
, Kaleshwaram
Kaleshwaram is a village in Mahadevpur Mandal in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district in the Indian state of Telangana. This name refers more broadly to the state of Telangana & Kaleshwaram Temple.
Kaleshwaram is at the juncture of the rivers Goda ...
, Bhadrachalam
Bhadrachalam is a census town in Bhadradri Kothagudem district in the Indian state of Telangana. It is an important Hindu pilgrimage town with the Bhadrachalam Temple of Lord Rama, situated on the banks of Godavari river. It is located east o ...
in Telangana and Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...
, Kovvur
Kovvur is a town in East Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarters of Kovvur mandal in Kovvur revenue division.
Etymology
This Town was earlier referred as ''Govur''.
According ...
, Narasapuram
Narasapuram, or Narsapur, is a city in West Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and mandal headquarters of Narasapuram mandal, West Godavari district, Narasapuram mandal in Narasapuram revenue division, W ...
, Antarvedi
Godawari river has two arms at the end where it meets Bay of Bengal at Yenar and Antarvedi, or Antarvedipalem, and yenar is a village in the Sakhinetipalle mandal, or tehsil, located in the Konaseema district of the Andhra Pradesh state in ...
in Andhra Pradesh.
Facilities
The Maha Pushkaram festival in 2015 attracted 4.81 crore people in Andhra Pradesh and 5.7 crore people in the Telangana stat
link
from all parts of India. On this occasion, it is essential to take a holy dip in the Godavari River to get the supposed benefits of better physical and mental abilities. The Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have made all arrangements for this event in their respective states by constructing ghat
Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of ...
s for bathing and improving road communications, basic amenities of water supply and sanitation, and security. In Andhra Pradesh. the budget allocated for improvement of infrastructure facilities is INR 1,295 crores
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
.
Symbolism
An emblem titled "Godavari Maha Pushkaram 2015" and "Godavari Pushkaramalu" has been adopted by the state governments for this festival, and a special organization under the same name has also been instituted to address all issues related to the smooth functioning of the festive event. The emblem or logo with a simple design has lines to denote the rapid flow conditions of the Godavari River, a "jyoti" a glowing light, and the representation of offering oblation, called "Arghyam", to Surya
Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...
, the Sun god.
Another symbolic event proposed during the festival is to hold "Sobha Yatra", a procession carrying the sacred waters
Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. T ...
of the Godavari River to be mixed with water bodies in all the villages in the 13 districts which lie within the ambit of the Godavari River.
A religious symbolic performance called the "Godavari Harathi", a ritual of worship with a number of lamps, similar to the Ganga
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
Aarti
''Arti'' (Sanskrit: Ārātrika, Hindi: Ārtī) is a Hindu ritual employed in worship, often part of '' puja'', in which light (usually from a flame) is offered to one or more deities. ''Arti(s)'' also refers to the songs sung in praise of the d ...
that is conducted on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
, is also proposed to be held at Rajahmundry where the river flows out to the sea.[
]
See also
*List of largest gatherings in history
This is a list of the largest historic peaceful gatherings of people in the world at one place for a single event.
Over ten million
Five to ten million
* Around 7–9 million gathered in Karbala, Iraq to commemorate the martyrdom a ...
*Pushkaram
Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of rivers. It is also known as ''Pushkaralu'' (in Telugu), ''Pushkara'' (in Kannada) or ''Pushkar''.
It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in India, in the for ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Godavari Pushkaralu Telangana
{{HinduFestivals, state=collapsed
Festivals in Andhra Pradesh
Festivals in Telangana
Cultural festivals in India
Godavari River
Hindu festivals
Hindu pilgrimages
History of Andhra Pradesh (2014–present)
Human stampedes in 2015
Human stampedes in India
Rajahmundry
Religious tourism in India
Tourism in Telangana
Tourist attractions in Andhra Pradesh
Tourist attractions in Telangana
Water and Hinduism
1991 in India
2003 in India
2015 in India
June observances
July observances
Religious festivals in India