Teerthodbhava: The Worship of Cauvery Devi

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Teerthodbhava (the Festival of the Holy Spring) takes place each year

at Talacauvery, India -- the source of the Cauvery River. The

Festival falls in mid to late October, in accordance with yearly

astrological calculations. The annual phenomena of Mother Cauvery

manifesting herself in the form of bubbling fresh water at the

kundike at the holy shrine is witnessed by thousands of devotees

every year.

>From "The Hindu," of Chennai, India (http://www.hinduonnet.com):

 

TALACAUVERY, INDIA, October 18, 2002: Thousands of devotees of the

Goddess Cauvery were able to witness the annual event where the

Goddess emerges from a tiny pond in the form of a holy spring.

Priests chanted Vedic hymns during the ceremony

called "Teerthodbhava" [lit., "Holy Spring" -- DB] that ended with

many pilgrims jumping into the tank for ablution. In preparation for

the sacred event, devotees shave their heads, chant the Goddess's

name, and bathe in the sangam, the confluence of the rivers Cauvery,

Kanike and Sujyoti.

 

FROM A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE 2000 FESTIVAL:

 

Amid chanting of hymns by the priests and the sudden appearance of a

cool wafting fog in a scorching afternoon, the holy spring emerged

exactly at the appointed hour. As if in a trance, the pilgrims, most

of them tonsured, took a plunge into the main pond in front of

the "Brahma Kundike" (a tiny pond) from where the spring emerged,

breaking the stiff police cordon as the time of the "teerthodbhava"

neared. Policemen in plainclothes, who had formed a security ring in

front of the "Brahma Kundike", could not stop the surging pilgrims

from reaching the front. The "Bhandara" was brought from Bhagamandala

to Talacauvery at 11.30 a.m.

 

An estimated 30,000 pilgrims were present at the time

of "teerthodbhava". A large number of visitors were arriving at

Bhagamandala and Talacauvery during the entire day. Scores of

vehicles, including many KSRTC buses, had been permitted to

run "jatra specials" on the occasion from all over the State.

 

Bhagamandala and Talacauvery wore a festive look on Tuesday. Stalls

on both sides of the road at Bhagamandala, selling bangles and toys

among other things, did brisk business. The Centre for Environment

Education distributed leaflets giving information on the need to

maintain cleanliness in the area. The Department of Health and Family

Welfare had put up stalls educating the public on health care. Fire

tenders had been positioned to deal with any incident.

 

Thousands of pilgrims took a holy dip at the Sangam at Bhagamandala --

the confluence of the Cauvery, Kanike and Sujyoti rivers -- in the

morning. Many performed rites for their deceased elders on the other

side of the Sangam. The Bhagandeshwara Temple complex was full of

devotees queueing up to offer poojas at the temples of

Bhagandeshwara, Ganapathi and Vishnu.

 

Since morning, devotees started thronging the twin pilgrim places of

Bhagamandala and Talacauvery on the auspicious Tula Sankramana Day,

known as "Cauvery Changrandi" in local parlance. The district

administration had made separate arrangements for tonsuring and

changing after a dip at the Sangam.

 

(For full account, see

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2000/10/18/stories/0418210i.htm)