india

Updated: Jul 02, 2019 15:15 IST

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took part in a mega “yagam” conducted by his party leaders in Amaravati just like his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao, who performed a mega homam soon after winning the assembly elections in December last year.

The YSR Congress party president, who is a Christian, performed “purnahuti” or the concluding ritual of the Maha Rudra Sahitha Dwi Sahasra Chandi Yagam, amidst chanting of Vedic hymns by pundits on Monday. The priests read out vedasirvachanam or divine blessings for Jagan Mohan, who felicitated them with shawls and bracelets.

Before this, a Chandi yagam was started on July 29, 2017, by YSRC general secretary Aarimalla Varaprasad Reddy on the outskirts of Hyderabad seeking divine support to Jagan, which went on for 23 months. Jagan’s close aide and now Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy took “sankalpam” or a vow on behalf of the party president.

As many as nine ritwiks or Vedic scholars under the auspices of renowned priest Nallapeddi Siva Rama Prasad Sarma performed the yagam, which was later shifted to Tadepalli, where Jagan constructed his own house.

While commencing the Yagam, Varaprasad Reddy said the ritual would be held non-stop till the YSRC achieved success in the assembly elections.

“We took up a deeksha (penance) and prayed the gods that Jagan should become the chief minister. Of course, the yagam was also aimed at praying for the welfare of the people of the state,” Reddy said.

The Vedic rituals mainly comprised Maha Rudra Sahita Chandi Yagam, Maha Vidya Parayana Homam, Pratyangira Parayana Homam, Maha Sudershana Yagam, besides Ganapathi Homam regularly.

“The rituals started with Rudrabhisekham early in the morning, followed by a series of homams later in the day,” Reddy said.

KCR, the Telangana chief minister as he is known popularly, performed a similar Maha Rudra Sahita Chandi Yagam at his farmhouse at Erravelli in Siddipet district soon after his party won the assembly elections for a second successive term in December. Before the commencement of the election process, he performed Raja Syamala Yagam.

Both the yagams were performed under the auspices of Visakhapatnam Sarada Peetham (mutt) pontiff Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswati, who also later became closer to Jagan Reddy. Both the chief ministers went all the way to Visakhapatnam to take the Swamy’s blessings soon after their respective party victories in the assembly elections.

In December 2015, KCR performed Ayutha Chandi Yagam at his farmhouse in Erravelli village in then Medak district (now Siddipet district) for 15 days, which attracted nation-wide attention.