Pushkaram Pushkaraalu Pushkaraha

“My dear countrymen, Pushkaram, Pushkaraalu, Pushkaraha – have you ever heard these terms? Do you know what these are? Let me tell you. These are the different names by which festivals organized on 12 different rivers across the country are called. One river every year…that means it would recur on that particular river after 12 years…and this festival is held sequentially every year in 12 different rivers spread across the country …and it lasts for 12 long days. 

Just like the Kumbh festival, this, encourages the concept of national unity. And echoes the philosophy of “Ek Bharat-ShreshTh Bharat” (One India Best India)…Pushkaram is a festival in which the greatness of the river, the glory of the river, the importance of the river in our lives…all these are brought forth naturally.
Our forefathers put a lot of emphasis on nature, on environment, on water, on land, on forests.

They understood the importance of rivers and tried to inculcate a positive mindset towards rivers in the society. They constantly strove to conflate the river with the cultural stream, the stream of tradition, and with the society. And the interesting thing is that not only did it bring the society closer to the rivers, it also brought people closer to each other.

Last year in 2018 the Pushkaram was held on the TaamirabaraNi river in Tamil Nadu. This year in 2019 it was held on the Brahmaputra river. Next year it will be held in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on the Tungabhadra river.”