Rajamahendravaram: Holy Godavari Harathi programme completes 10 years today

Rajamahendravaram: The Holy Godavari Harathi programme is completing 10 years on Karthika Pournami on Monday. The celestial fete was started in the year 2010 and since then every year Harathi is offered to Godavari Matha on every Pournami Tidhi.

As many as 16 varieties of Harathis are offered to River Godavari since its beginning, like Ganga Harathi in Varanasi.

Later, during Godavari Maha Pushkarams-2015, with the initiative of then Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the Harathi became a regular programme at Pushkar Ghat from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm. Buddavarapu Kumar of Polamuru village in Anaparthi mandal witnessed Ganga Harathi when he went there. Later, he came to the city and started the pious programme from his Buddavarapu Charitable Trust.

During this one-hour programme, the purohits brief about the importance of Harathis such as Simha, Nakshatra, Kumbha, Nandi etc while reciting mantras.

Now, Buddavarapu Charitable Trust and Endowments department jointly conduct the programme. Daily thousands of people witness the event.

The VIPs who come to the historical city also witness the Harathi programme. A permanent structure was constructed at Pushkar Ghat for this programme.