: A 12-day ‘athirathram’, an ancient Vedic ritual, is being planned to be held at Undavalli near here from May 10. The proposed ritual will be first of its kind in the Capital city, Amaravati, as no such ancient and major yagams have been performed in the Capital region so far after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, though other yagams relating to foundation stone were performed a year ago.
The athirathram yagam will be performed in about six acre land belonging to Narsapur MP Gokaraju Gangaraju. Close to 55 ritviks from Kerala would perform the yagam. And, in all 100 priests and vedic scholars would be performing the rituals, according to Thapass chairman S. Sudarshan Reddy.
The objective of the ritual was universal harmony and to liberate people from unforeseen consequences of their bad acts. About Rs. 2.5 crore would be spent on the yagam. As part of it, annadanam for about 10,000 people every day would be done, he said adding they performed similar feat in Keesara (Telangaana State) in 2013. The round-the-clock ritual, athirathram, would comprise ‘homas and vedic’ chanting.
