Visakhapatnam: ‘Raja Shyamala Yagam' becomes a sentiment for political leaders

Visakhapatnam : For several political leaders, performing ‘Raja Shyamala yagam’ is associated with religious sentiment. More so, the ‘yagam’ gains significance during election season.

It has become a sentimental aspect for Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as well. Like previous polls, this time too, he came down to Visakhapatnam specifically to perform the ‘yagam’ at Visakha Sri Sarada Peetham in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

As part of the rituals, the Chief Minister performed ‘manyusukta homam poornahuti’ at the sannidhi of Goddess ‘Raja Shyamala’, who is also known to be another incarnation of Goddess Saraswati, who bestows devotees with wisdom and helps them triumph over enemies. The rituals at the temple lasted for over one-and-a-half hours.

Later, the Chief Minister offered prayers at Vijaya Ganapathi, Sankaracharya, Subrahmanyeswara Swamy and Vana Durga temples on the peetham premises. The Veda patasala students had an opportunity to meet the Chief Minister on the occasion, while some interacted with him.

Led by the peetham’s seer Swaroopanandendra Saraswati and ‘Uttardhikari’ Swatmanandendra Saraswati, the rituals were performed with religious fervour.

Recently, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu along with his wife Bhuvaneshwari performed a three-day-long ‘Raja Shyamala yagam’ at his residence.

Former Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao is known for his religious beliefs. Before elections, he performed ‘Raja Shyamala yagam’ at Visakha Sri Sarada Peetham in Visakhapatnam a couple of times. However, before the recent elections, he performed the ‘yagam’ in Hyderabad at his farmhouse to seek divine intervention under the supervision of seer Swaroopanandendra Saraswati.

Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami too performed the yagam. Speaking on the occasion, seer Swaroopanandendra Saraswati said that Visakha Sri Sarada Peetham is known for performing the ‘Raja Shyamala yagam’ and many sought divine blessings of the Goddess through elaborate rituals that form a part of the yagam.