‘Varuna Yagam‘ to be performed at Nagarjunasagar on August 10

HYDERABAD

A ‘Varuna Yagam’ will be performed at Nagarjunasagar on August 10, praying for widespread rains, abundant river flows and replenishment of reservoirs and tanks across Telangana, Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has stated.

The special vedic ritual would be organised following a decision by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who wanted the prayers to be offered for copious rainfall across the State and prosperity of the farming community. The Yagam will be performed on the Vijaya Vihar premises on the banks of Nagarjunasagar reservoir.

Following the Chief Minister’s instructions, priests and vedic scholars of the Yadagirigutta Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple in consultation with the temple Siddhanti fixed August 10 as the auspicious date for the Varuna Yagam, the Irrigation Minister stated, adding that 108 ruthviks along with vedic pundits and priests would perform the yagam at 11 ‘homa kundas’.

The rituals would be performed under the auspices of the Endowments Department and priests. Vedic scholars from Yadagirigutta would perform the prescribed vedic rituals and offer special prayers for abundant rains, healthy flows in the Krishna and Godavari rivers, and filling up of reservoirs, tanks and other water bodies across the State.

Prayers would also be offered for a prosperous agricultural season, plentiful crops and the well-being of farmers across the State. The day-long vedic rituals would culminate in a ‘Maha Purnahuti’ in the evening, which would be attended by the Chief Minister Mr. Revanth Reddy.

The details of yagam were announced in a statement issued by Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yadagirigutta Devasthanam, M.S.N. Reddy.

Meanwhile, despite some significant inflows into most of the Krishna and Godavari Basins, the ones with large water-holding capacity remain unfilled to the capacity. Only Jurala, Kaddam and Yellampalli projects have become surplus so far this season. Most of the medium irrigation projects and minor irrigation tanks too have lower water levels.

Sriramsagar water storage is approaching the half-way mark and Nagarjunasagar is 44% full against its capacity of 312 tmc ft, Singur is 13.9% against its capacity of 29.9 tmc ft, Nizamsagar is 57.5% of its 17.8 tmc ft full capacity, Lower Manair is filled 23.9% out of its 24 tmc ft capacity and Mid Manair is 69% out of 27.55 tmc ft capacity (water is being pumped from Yellampalli to fill it).