Prayutha Chandi Yagam is next on KCR’s agenda

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced on Sunday that he would conduct a mega “Prayutha Chandi Maha Yagam” after successful completion of the flagship programmes that his government has undertaken.

Addressing priests, ritwiks and devotees who attended the “Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam” at his farmhouse, the CM said he would soon visit Sringeri Peetham in Karnataka to take the blessings of Maha Swamy Bharathi Teertha there and inform him about the successful completion of the Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam.

Chanting of 700 shlokas praising the Goddess Chandi 10,000 times is called “Ayutha”. Chanting the 700 shlokas for 1 million times is called “Prayutha”.

Mr Rao said that he had been conducting yagams for the last 25 years and they were nothing new to him. When he came to know about the Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam that was conducted in Sringeri Peetham on the eve of the Shatyabdi celebrations of Bharathi Teertha Maha Swamy in 2011, he had planned a similar yagam for the sake of a separate Telangana state.

“I have no ambitions left in my life, I got Telangana, I have become Chief Minister, but I pray to Goddess Durga for the successful implementation of the Water Grid, Mission Kakatiya and Irrigation projects. I will seek the blessings of Bharathi Teertha Maha Swamy and I plan to conduct a Prayutha Chandi Maga Yagam after some time,” said Mr Rao.

Referring to the fire incident on Sunday afternoon during the “Maha Purna-huti” ritual, he said, “Everything was ok, all the rituals were conducted as per the shastras and traditions, Narahari Bhattu (chief conductor of the yagam) was there at the time of the fire accident inside the yagasala and he performed the ritual and completed it.

“Everything went as per 'Vaidik' tradition; instead of all priests conducting the Maha Purna-huti, Narahari Bhattu completed the task successfully.”

Later Mr Rao and his wife, Ms Sobha, felicitated the key organisers and conductors of the yagam with Swarna Kankanam (golden bangle) and other gifts and also gave Sambhavanas to the 2500 ritwiks who performed the yagam.

The Chief Minister and his family will spend the night inside the yagasala on Sunday as per tradition and will leave for Vemulavada on Monday morning to worship Goddess Rajarajeswari before returning to Hyderabad.

Earlier in the day, Mr Rao and his family completed the most important ritual of the five-day yagam, the Maha Purna-huti. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and his wife Ms Vimala, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu along with Union minister Sujana Chowdary and deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamurthy and minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao also attended the yagam in the afternoon and participated in the rituals along with Mr Rao.

Staff on alert: Fire officials

Few minutes after the mishap IT minister K.T. Rama Rao Tweeted: “There was an unfortunate fire accident at the Ayutha Chandi Yagam. No casualties or injuries; the last leg of ceremony will be completed soon.”

Fire officials said that the staff were alert as elaborate security arrangements were already in place. “At around 1.10 pm the fire spread to the roof of the yagashala from the sacrificial pit. We are still checking what went wrong,” said a senior fire official from Medak district.

President Pranab Mukherjee was scheduled to participate in the yagam for Poornahuti (complete burning of the yagam material) on the final day of the yagam.

After the fire mishap, head of Sharada Peetham in Visakhapatnam, Swaroopanandendra Swamy, stated that it was a divine intervention and the Poornahuti happened naturally.

However, after the fire was extinguished, the ritwiks resumed the ceremony and concluded the final day’s ceremony by the evening. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan took the President’s place at the Poornahuti.

Several VIPs including spiritual gurus like Sri Sri Ravishankar, Tridandi Sreemannarayana China Jeeyar, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Supreme Court judges, Justices J. Chalameswar and N.V. Ramana, and several others participated in the yagam.