RAJAHMUNDRY: Noted Srisailam Vedic scholar and astrologer Bhutte Veerabhadra Siddanthi, along with hundreds of his followers, took a holy dip in river Godavari at Pushkar Ghat here Tuesday.
The government has fixed July 14 as the day of commencment of the ri ver festival based on the advice of TTD astrologer Tangirala Satya Krishna Prasad.
While the claims and counter-claims by various scholars about the ‘exact date’ of commencement of Pushkarams have created confusion in the minds of the people, sources told Express here on Tuesday that a similar controversy had arisen almost a century ago in 1920 and on several other occasions later too.
They said that in 1920, some astrologers had announced that Pushkarams would start on July 12 while some others had stated that the event would commmence on July 18.
Finally, the government had announced the commencement date as July 18, as per the advice of noted astrologer Pidaparthi Pedda Purnayya, they recalled.
Meanwhile, Bhutte Veerabhadra Siddanthi said the river festival commenced on Tuesday as per the ancient ‘Surya Siddantam’.
However, another eminent astrologer and President’s Medal-awardee Madhura Krishna Murthy Sastry had taken the holy dip in river Godavari on June 28, saying Pushkarams commenced on that day, as per the ‘Surya Siddantam’.