Telugu NRIs in Bahrain perform Sri Satyanarayana Vratham to mark New Year

The Telugu NRI community in Bahrain marked the beginning of 2026 with the Sri Satyanarayana Vratham, a revered Hindu ritual dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The ceremony served as both a thanksgiving for 2025 and a prayer for prosperity and forgiveness in the year ahead, with prasadam distributed to all attendees.

By Gulf Correspondent

Dubai: As the New Year of 2026 began, the Telugu NRI community living in Bahrain performed Sri Satyanarayana Vratham, a revered Hindu ritual dedicated to Sri Satyanarayana Swamy, a benevolent form of Lord Vishnu.

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The Satyanarayana Vratham is popular among the Telugu community, both at home and abroad, as devotees seek blessings for prosperity, success, health and the removal of obstacles.

The January Vratham holds special emotional significance as it seeks blessings for the year ahead with a clean slate while closing the year gone by, serving both a way of expressing gratitude and seeking forgiveness for mistakes.

The ritual was conducted by the Sri Venkateshwara Cultural Group on Friday in an atmosphere of spiritual fervour, with scores of couples from both Telugu states in attendance.

Priests from Annavaram village, where the Satyanarayana Swamy temple is located in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, flew to Bahrain to conduct the rituals. Two young priests, Pavan Kodukula and Saiteja Sharma, delivered moral lessons during the Katha.

Satyanarayana Swamy prasadam, the sacred sweet, was distributed to all the attending devotees.

Several devotees from neighbouring Saudi Arabia also travelled to the island nation to take part in the event.

Describing the ritual, Naresh Gaddevalasala said that he felt as if he was at Annavaram. “It was a spiritual closing ceremony for the year 2025, a way of expressing gratitude, seeking forgiveness,” he added.