Andhra Pradesh priests make a killing in Pranahita Pushkaralu
Mancherial: Purohits or priests of not only Telangana, but Andhra Pradesh made a killing during the 12-day Pushkaralu of Pranahita by way of solemnizing certain rituals performed by devotees. Scores of priests from Andhra Pradesh made a beeline to Kaleshwaram in Prof Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, where the confluence of Pranahita, Godavari and mystic Saraswathi is […]
Mancherial: Purohits or priests of not only Telangana, but Andhra Pradesh made a killing during the 12-day Pushkaralu of Pranahita by way of solemnizing certain rituals performed by devotees.
Scores of priests from Andhra Pradesh made a beeline to Kaleshwaram in Prof Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, where the confluence of Pranahita, Godavari and mystic Saraswathi is located. They then swarmed Arjunagutta village in Kotapalli mandal and Sironcha Taluq centre in Maharashtra, the venues of Pusha, considering heavy influx of the devotees.
Ramana, a priest of Guntur said that they paid Rs 200 as a fee to the endowment department of Telangana for allowing them to guide the devotees in conducting rituals such as Shraddam and Tarpanam by charging somewhere between Rs 200 and 500 each. We, however, never demanded a fixed charge. Devotees voluntarily paid the funds and donated monetary gifts as part of the rituals, he maintained.
Families of priests undergo crisis
The priests arrived at the venues in batches consisting of four-six members each. They said that priests were undergoing a tough phase due to Covid-19 pandemic. They regretted that many families lost breadwinners to the virus and were struggling to make ends meet. They reasoned that they were forced to find green pastures to eke out a living.
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