Pushkaram
Encyclopedia
Pushkaram is a festival in India
which occurs in any particular year with respect to one of twelve important rivers; the river for each year's festival is based on which zodiac
al sign Jupiter
is in at that time. The table to the right shows the association between rivers and signs.
The Pushkaram for each river come once every twelve years and lasts so long as the Jupiter remains in the corresponding Zodiac sign (generally, for one year). The first twelve days of Pushkaram are known as Adi Pushkaram, and the last twelve days are called Anthya Pushkaram. It is believed that during the above period of twenty-four days, "Pushkar" the person, who is imbued with the power to make any river holy, will travel with Jupiter as Jupiter moves from one Zodiac house to another.
In Tamil Nadu, Pushkaram is celebrated in Tamraparni River when Jupiter is in Scorpio. In the four places where River Tamraparni flows from south to north, Banathirtham, Papanasam, Thirupudaimaruthur and sinthupoondurai, the festival is celebrated in accordance with tradition. The Tamraparni temple at Suthamalli is also a place of religious celebration during the Pushkaram year.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
which occurs in any particular year with respect to one of twelve important rivers; the river for each year's festival is based on which zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
al sign Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
is in at that time. The table to the right shows the association between rivers and signs.
| River | Sign |
|---|---|
| Ganges | Aries |
| Narmada Narmada River The Narmada , also called Rewa is a river in central India and the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third largest river that completely flows within India after Ganges and Godavari... |
Taurus |
| Saraswati Sarasvati River The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata... |
Gemini |
| Yamuna Yamuna The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India... |
Cancer |
| Godavari Godavari River The Godavari is a river that runs from western to southern India and is considered to be one of the big river basins in India. With a length of 1465 km, it is the second longest river in India , that runs within the country and also the longest river in South India... |
Leo |
| Krishna Krishna River The Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature... |
Virgo |
| Kaveri Kaveri River The Kaveri , also spelled Cauvery in English, is a large Indian river. The origin of the river is traditionally placed at Talakaveri, Kodagu in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, flows generally south and east through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and across the southern Deccan plateau through the... |
Libra |
| Bhima River or Tambaraparni | Scorpio |
| Brahmaputra | Sagittarius |
| Tungabhadra | Capricorn |
| Indus Indus River The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and... |
Aquarius |
| Pranahita(tributary of Godavari) | Pisces |
The Pushkaram for each river come once every twelve years and lasts so long as the Jupiter remains in the corresponding Zodiac sign (generally, for one year). The first twelve days of Pushkaram are known as Adi Pushkaram, and the last twelve days are called Anthya Pushkaram. It is believed that during the above period of twenty-four days, "Pushkar" the person, who is imbued with the power to make any river holy, will travel with Jupiter as Jupiter moves from one Zodiac house to another.
In Tamil Nadu, Pushkaram is celebrated in Tamraparni River when Jupiter is in Scorpio. In the four places where River Tamraparni flows from south to north, Banathirtham, Papanasam, Thirupudaimaruthur and sinthupoondurai, the festival is celebrated in accordance with tradition. The Tamraparni temple at Suthamalli is also a place of religious celebration during the Pushkaram year.