Godavari Maha Pushkaram () was a

Hindu festival Hindus celebrate a significant number of festivals and celebrations, many of which commemorate events from ancient India and often align with seasonal changes. These festivities take place either on a fixed annual date on the solar calendar o ...

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 f ...

cycle. The festival starts from the

Ashadha Ashadha or Aashaadha or Adi () is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to June/July in the Gregorian calendar. In India's national civil calendar, this month is the fourth month of the year, beginning on 22 June and ending on 22 July. I ...

(June/July) month on the

Chaturdashi Chaturdashi () is the 14th day ( tithi) of the waxing phase or waning phase of the moon in the Hindu calendar. This is the day prior to new moon (''amavasya'') or full moon (''purnima''). Etymology ''Chatur'' means four and ''dashi'' means the ...

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 Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

enters the zodiac sign of

Leo Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

. 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

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 South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

, Pushkaram in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, Pushkara in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, and Pushkar in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Background

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 (

) 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

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 a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

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 (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganges River, Ganga River and drains the third largest Drainage basin, basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. It ...

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 in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

and

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. The notable places ar
Manthani
Basar,

Dharmapuri Dharmapuri is a city 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 splitting it from ...

, Koti Lingala,

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 Go ...

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 Rama, situated on the banks of Godavari River. It is located east of sta ...

in Telangana and

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry ( ), officially Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and district headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the fifth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the district of Rajahmu ...

Kovvur Kovvur, also natively known as Kovvuru, is a town in the 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 ...

Narasapuram Narasapuram is a city in West Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and mandal headquarters of Narasapuram mandal in Narasapuram revenue division. The city is situated on the banks of the Vasista Godavari ...

Antarvedi Antarvedi is a village in the Sakhinetipalle mandal, located in the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema district of the Andhra Pradesh state in India. The village is situated at the place where the Bay of Bengal and Vashista Godavari, a distribu ...

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, to refer to the series of steps leading down to a body of water or wharf, such as a bathing or cremation place along the banks of a river or pond, the Ghats in Varanasi, Dhobi Ghat or the Aap ...

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 Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the Indian ...

Symbolism

Godavari pushkaralu 2015 at Rajamandry-7

River Godavari at Bhadrachalam during Pushkaram in 2015

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 ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchaya ...

, 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, spring (hydrosphere), springs, Water reservoir, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with th ...

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 Arathi", a ritual of worship with a number of lamps is also proposed to be held at Rajahmundry where the river flows out to the sea.

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 Human stampedes in 2015 Human stampedes in India Rajahmundry Religious tourism in India Water and Hinduism 1991 in India 2003 in India 2015 in India June observances July observances Religious festivals in India