more-in Thousands of devotees from various parts of the country sprinkled the holy water from the Cauvery at various bathing ghats along the course of the river in Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts on the occasion of the Cauvery Maha Pushkaram on Tuesday. The celestial event is said to occur once in 144 years but roughly coincides with the multiple transits of Jupiter from Kanya Rasi to Thula Rasi as per the Hindu almanac and which happens once in a dozen years. Incidentally, the rituals will be observed for the next 12 days. At the main event at the Thula Kattam in Mayiladuthurai on the Cauvery, thousands of devotees sprinkled the holy water from the specially crafted tank readied as part of the Maha Pushkaram efforts. The Thula Kattam was renovated at a cost of ?3 crore and the 12 sacred wells in the Thula Kattam also underwent a major revival. Early on Tuesday, yagasala poojas were carried out at the Mangala Vinayakar shrine at the Vadapal Karai and Kanchi Acharyas Sri Jayendra Saraswathi and Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigals along with Dharmapuram and Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam pontiffs poured the sanctified waters at the yagasala on to River Cauvery. The processional deities of Sri Mayuranatha Swamy, Sri Ayyarappar, Sri Kasi Viswanathar, Sri Vatharanyeswarar arrived at the banks of the Thula Kattam and soon after, abishekam was performed for the Astra Devars of those deities even as the Mutt heads took a holy dip to mark the commencement of the Cauvery Maha Pushkaram. The devotees followed the pontiffs in participating in the event. A new statue for Mother Cauvery was installed on the southern banks of the Thula Kattam and it was sanctified with special abishekams on the occasion. The sacred flag was hoisted to mark the commencement of the Cauvery Pushkaram. In the evening, a rally was taken out by the members of the Akhil Bharatha Sanyasees Sangam from Mahadana Street to the Thula Kattam in which the BJP national secretary H. Raja and others participated. Special poojas were performed for Mother Cauvery there. With hygiene in mind, authorities had made arrangements to allow fresh water from the western side of the tank and drain the used water through the eastern side at the Thula Kattam.

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