‘Cauvery Maha Aarathi’ , an initiative started in 2010 to create awareness, will complete 150 months of continuing rituals to the river this month.
Madikeri :
The looming water scarcity and the need to protect rivers are evident from the ongoing Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It was over 12 years ago that a few organisations from across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu urged residents to preserve and protect River Cauvery from its birthplace in Talacauvery to Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu. ‘Cauvery Maha Aarathi’, an initiative started in 2010 to create awareness, will complete 150 months of continuing rituals to the river this month.
The ritual has also spread to the banks of the river at Ramanathapura in Hassan district. “Seers and a few citizens from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu visit Talacauvery every year and start off the ‘yatra’ towards Poompuhar. They visit all the important places located by the banks of Cauvery from Kodagu to Tamil Nadu, and spread awareness amongst the public to protect the river,” he added. The ‘yatra’ will be carried out by a group of seers this year to coincide with the 150th full moon day, and the Cauvery Maha Arathi ritual will be held on October 20.
“Cauvery was offered puja on the full moon day for the 149th month on September 29. The ritualistic puja is a sacrosanct reminder to everyone to protect and prevent pollution of the river. If the Cauvery is not protected, the water crisis will worsen, and we want to create awareness about the same,” explained Chandramohan, a member of the Cauvery Maha Arathi team and convenor of the Cauvery Swachata Andolana forum.
The 149th puja was performed on the banks of the Cauvery at Kushalnagar and the event highlighted the need to look at the river as sacred in order to protect her. “For the past 12 years, we have been creating awareness among locals and tourists against river pollution. A few renowned seers suggested that we start something similar to Ganga Aarathi and the initiative began,” he said, adding that apart from the ritual puja on every full moon, a ‘yatra’ from Talacauvery to Poompuhar is also held annually.
source: http://www.newindianexpress. com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / October 02nd, 2023
