Tunga arati for the well-being of all

October 29, 2017 08:37 am | Updated 08:37 am IST - HAMPI

Amid chanting of mantras by archaks and scholars and the melodious mangal dhun from the nadaswaram filling the air, Sri Vidyaranya Bharathi Swamiji of Vidyaranya Peetha performed arati to Goddess Bhuvaneshwari and also to the Tungabhadra during the ongoing auspicious Karthika masa puja here on Friday evening.

Though Hampi Utsav is being organised since 1995, it is for the first time that arati is being performed to the river, which is the lifeline of Ballari, Koppal and Raichur districts and also Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapur districts of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, as a precursor to Hampi Utsav 2017, a three-day mega cultural festival of dance, music and drama, scheduled to begin from November 3.

A large number of people from not only Hampi and Hosapete but also from surrounding places had converged to witness the event which was marked with religious and traditional fervour.

The idol of Goddess Bhuvaneshwari was kept on a tastefully decorated platform at the bathing ghat on the banks of the Tungabhadra.

The rocky boulders amid the river and the stone mantaps on the river banks were glittering when hundreds of lamps were lit and also set floating in the water.

At 6.30 p.m., Sri Vidyaranya Bharathi Swamiji, along with a host of other swamijis of the Virakta Mutts, arrived and began the rituals, which lasted over an hour.

B.S. Anand Singh, Vijayanagar MLA, Bharathi Thimma Reddy, Zilla Panchayat president, Ramprasath Manohar, Deputy Commissioner, K.V. Rajendra, Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Panchayat, were among those who participated.

Lauding the Deputy Commissioner for the initiative, Sri Vidyaranya Bharathi Swamiji said that the river had been giving a lot to the people and in turn, the people should perform puja regularly seeking its blessings by way of continuous flow of water throughout the year. “It is our duty to protect the river from all kinds of pollution,” he said

Mr. Ramprasath said that as the Tungabhadra was one of the sacred rivers and considered the lifeline of people living on the river banks, he thought of performing the arati on the lines of the one performed to the sacred Ganga, for the well-being of all.

Mr. Anand Singh underlined the need to organise such a ritual periodically.

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