Pandits perform yagna to rouse rain gods

It's time to ask for divine intervention. Worried about the deficient rains in the city this year, members of the Matunga Shankara Muttam performed a special yagna - vedic parjanya kamsheti yagna - last morning to appease the disgruntled rain gods. Five havans were offered.u00a0

The rainmakers: Five havans were constructed in different shapes by three pandits to invoke the rain gods. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The special yagna, which is performed to appease Lord Varun, the God of Rain, was conducted by three vedic pandits from Pune, Nasik and Kalyan and stretched on for nearly four hours.

The pandits were led by Brahmashri Sudakar Kulkarni from Pune. Special rites were conducted after the fire was lit using two wooden sticks from a sacred Peepal tree.

Shankara Muttam reverberated with the rhythmic chants of mantras and shlokas recited in unison by the six pandits who performed the yagna from 8.30 am to around 12.30 in the noon yesterday. And it seemed that the Gods were listening - almost simultaneous with the yagna, it rained heavily across the city. "We think our yagna has started on a good note, as in anticipation of these rituals, the Gods have already started blessing us with rainfall since morning," said A N Seshan, president of the Shankara Muttam in Matunga.

The Parjanya Yagna is performed for the specific purpose of invoking the rain gods and inducing rainfall, the term parjanya implying sublime showers from the upper cosmic planes. This is the first time that such a yagna was performed in the city, which usually experiences heavy showers over an extended monsoon season.

According to Seshan, the energy generated by this yagna expands and energises water contained by the clouds, resulting in rainfall.

"With concentration, devotion and discipline observed by these pandits while performing yagnas, we will definitely yield results," added Seshan.
"It is a shame that many people in Mumbai don't believe in such rituals because I have witnessed how heavy clouds reappeared in the sky in 1953 when a similar yagna was performed near Kanshipuram," he added.

One of the five sacred fires used for this yagna, called ‘Garhapatya', is circular in shape and will be kept alive till the ritual is completed today. The second fire pit in the south is called ‘Daksinangi' and is semicircular in shape. The third havan in the northern direction, ‘Ahavaniya,' is square in shape.

There are two more havans of circular shape called Avasatya and Sabhya. The total expenditure for the ritual was an estimated Rs 50,000. The ritual will also be performed today for about four to five hours.u00a0