The just concluded 12-day pushkarams for Pranahita river were an occasion for the priests to make some money with many devotees preferred to offer Pinda Pradanams to their ancestors.
Interestingly, though Pranahita river flows through Maharashtra and joins Godavari river in Telangana, there was a lot of demand for Andhra priests during the pushkarams, along with Telangana priests in performing certain rituals performed by devotees.
According to media reports, 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 river happens.
The Andhra priests were also seen at Arjunagutta village in Kotapalli mandal and Sironcha Taluq centre in Maharashtra, the venues of Pusha, considering heavy influx of the devotees.
The reports said the Andhra priests, however, had to pay a fee to the Telangana endowments department for allowing them to perform rituals at the Pranahita pushkarams in the state.
Each priest had to pay Rs 200 as a fee to the endowment department for allowing them to guide the devotees in conducting rituals such as Shraddam and Tarpanam. The priests charged around Rs 200 to 500 for each ritual.
“We, however, never demanded a fixed charge. Devotees voluntarily paid the funds and donated monetary gifts as part of the rituals,” a priest said.
The priests from Andhra came in groups of four to six members to the Pushkaram sites. They said they had no option as they 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 come to Telangana to make some little money.