When we hear the word Kasi Yathirai, we remember a bridegroom with his brother in

law holding an umbrella over his head and the father in law requesting him to come and
marry his daughter with two coconuts in hand. . The explanation given to this ritual is a
man cannot perform the rituals for his ancestors in Kashi unless his wife accompanies
him and that is why symbolically he asked to get married before he gets the necessity
to proceed towards Kashi .Kashi yatra begins with collection of sand from the sea
shore of Rameswaram , dissolving the sand at Thriveni sangamam and ends with
Abishekam of Ramantha Swamy in Rameswaram with Ganga water brought from
Sangam and performance Ganga Samardhanai after you return home.
First Stop- Rameswaram.

It is a small town with the people depending on the temple and the sea for livelihood.
The rituals one should perform here are as follows ( Of course, these are for people who
have lost at least one of the parents)
1. Sankalpam Sankalpam is performed for commencing the journey by drawing a bow
like structure on the sand with turmeric powder and do pooja praying that the journey
and the rituals should be performed without any hitches.
2. Samudra Snanam- Husband and wife should take dips in the sea water and collect
sand .
3. Hiranya Srardam After taking bath in the sea hiranya srardham is performed with 5
brahmin pandits. But instead of cooked rice Pindams are made with wet raw rice.
4. Madhava Pooja - The sand collected is divided into three portions and named a) Sri.
Veni Madhava b) Shri Bindhu Madhava c) Shri Sethu Madhava. Pooja is done for all
the Madhavas . Sethu madhavar is immersed in the sea . Other 2 Madhavas accompany
us on our journey to Prayg and Kashi.
5. Theertha Snanam Ramanatha Swamy Koil prakaram has 33 wells . which are
considered auspicious for bath. There are many people waiting to take out water from
the wells and pour it on you. We need to pay only 15 to 20 Rs for their services
6. Sight seeing- Since we have a train to Chennai only in the evening and if you have
time, an auto can be hired to go sight seeing. Kodanda Ramaswamy temple in
Dhanushkodi, Rama theertham ,Seetha Theertham, Lakshmana Theertham, a temple
with stones that are supposed to be used for Sethu Bhandanma ( Here the stones are
seen floating in water and there are pictures of the arial view of the Sethu or bridge
built by Lord Ram taken by NASA ) are places worth seeing.

Second Stop- Prayag or Allahabad

There is a saying Prayagai mundanam, Kasi Dhandanam, Gaya Pindanam.So
those who go to Prayg are to cut atleast a strand of their hair. In Prayag Shiv Mutt
pandits make all the arrangements for the rituals to be performed. The rituals to be
performed here as follows:

1. Sangalpam First of all you have to perform a sangalpam . Then the ladies have
to seek permission from their husbands and the Sumagalis to cut their hair. Then a
pooja has to be performed for the sand brought from Rameswaram. ( A request from
the pandit in the Shiv Mutt Dont address this as sand, you have memed it Veni
Madhav and brought him all the way from Rameswaram. Refer to hin as Veni Madhav.
)He also requests not to bring Veni Madhav in plastic bags as plastic is banned in
Ganges. Another suggestion. If you are not going to Prayag immediately after
Rameswaram open the bag and dry the sand , sorry, Veni Madhav in sun . Otherwise it
will start emitting a bad smell.
2. Veni Dhanam We have to carry a blouse piece, comb, mirror ,kumkum pack in a
muram and go to Thiriveni sangamam by boat. Local Pandas come to the boat and
recite some Mantras and the husband has to comb and plait his wifes hair and cut a
small bit from the end. After arriving at thiriveni sangamam wife puts the hair along
with turmeric powder and kumkum in the river. It is surprising that haldi kumkum
floats, whereas the hair sinks . Then the husband and wife bathe in the sangam and
immerses Veni Madhav in the water. Pure water from Ganga should be collected in a
can before it merges with Yamuna.
3. Tharpanam After coming back to Shiv Mutt a tharpanam must be performed. Cook
in the kitchen keeps the cooked rice ready and 17 pindams or riceballs are to be made
out of this rice. Before that the water brought from the Ganges can be given to a shop
opposite Shiv Mutt so that they pack the water in small copper sombus .One thing to
remember. The water for Abishekam to Ramanathga swamy should be atleat half a
liter. If we order in advance Shiv Mutt provides food at a cost of Rs 50 per head.

3rd Stop: Kasi or Varanasi

The city is caleed Varanasi because here the two rivers namely Varuna and Assi
converge. The Pandits in Kasi make all the arrangements for the whole yatra . We
contacted Shri. mahadeva Ganapatigal ( mobile no- 099849 61599). He performs the
rituals for people of all the Vedas. If we inform in advance, he arranges for a pickup
in Allahabad station ,take us to Shiv Mutt, arrange for all the rituals ,and bring us to
Kashi in the same taxi. Another thing, all the items to be given as Dhanam can be
procured by us or Ghanapatikal can be entrusted with this task. When we performed
this ritual about 40 pandits were arranged to receive Dhanam of articles like gold coin,
silver tumbler, Rudraksham, book, veshti, brass cups etc. After giving away the
Dhanams you are to perform a Sradham. According to your convenience it can be

Hiranya Srardham or full fledged srardham . But menu is not per as our house hold
customs. Cocunut, chillies and tomatoes are included. Only 3 Bakshanams are made
namely Vadai, Appam and Ellurundai. One surprising thing is there are no crows in
Varanasi. Pindams are fed to the cows.
After finishing the days rituals an auto can be hired to go around
the temples in Varanasi. One word of advise. Cameras, cell phones and big handbags
are not allowed inside the Viswanathar temple. So better leave them in the place where
you stay. Visvanathar temple, Visalakshi temple and Annapoorani temple are all in
small bylanes. Other than these 3 main temples Kalabairava temple( here Black threads
called Kasi kayiru are placed in the deitys feet and given to us) Dhandapani Bhairav
temple( here the pandit strokes our back 3 times with a stick implying that the deity is
pardoning all our sins after giving a punishment) Sozhi matha temple(This godess is
considered to be the sister of Lord Visvanath and seems to have come from South India.
Her main meal is Sozhis . We can buy them and give them as an offering)Sankat
mochan Hanumar temple , the place where Thulasidas first read out his creation
Ramcharita manas are places worth seeing. Saranath, the place where Lord Buddha
gave out his first sermon is also a place not to be missed.

Fourth Stop Gaya

Even in the beginning of this narrative the importance of Pindams in Gaya was
mentioned. Even if we think that we ought to go to Kasi and Gaya they say that our
ancestors come and wait for our arrival. We started from Varansai around 3 Am and
reached Karnataka Bhavan in Gaya by 7.30 AM. A cook accompanied us with all the
required things for feeding the gaya Barahmins after the Srardham. All arrangements
were made by Karnataka Bhavan . First we were taken to the Phalguni river. We cannot
say it is a river because we dont see even a drop of water in the surface, only heaps of
sand. There is a tale behind this. Lord Ram came with Sita to Gaya to perform
Pindadhanam for his father. He went into the forest for collecting all the stuff
needed for this. Meanwhile Dhasharatha appeared in front of Sita and told her that he is
very hungry and need food immediately. Sita was sitting by the river side and
immediately she made pindams out of the sand in the river bed and fed her Father-inLaw. Satisfied Dhasharatha blesses her and leaves. Lord Rama after returning from the
forest prepares for the ritual and invokes his father. Dhasharatha appears in front of
him and says Sita has already fed him and he is not hungry. Lord Ram is puzzled and
asks Sita to produce some witnesses for having given pindams to his father. Sita first
calls the river as a witness but Phalguni thinking that her statement may cause a rift
between Ram and Sita says she has not seen anything. Next Sita calls a cow, a Thulasi
plant ,and a brahmin as witnesses. But all of them reply in the negative. Finally Sita
calls the Aala maram and the tree vouches for Sita giving Pindam for her father-inlaw. Sita curses Phalguni that water will never flow in her , Thulasi plant that it may
grow even in dirt, cows that they may lose their tongue and finally the gaya Brahmin
that he will never be satisfied with the food he gets . She was very happy that tha
Aalamaram spoke the truth and gives a boon that it will continue to flourish eternally .
So it is called Akshaya vatam here.

We are asked to fetch water from the pit dug in the river and with that
water asked to cook two bowls of rice. The pandit recites tha mantras for Tharpanam .
Out of the two bowls of cooked rice 17 and 64 rice ballas are made respectively(One
who has his mother alive need to make only 48 pindams)and out of the 17 pindams we
keep 12 on bed of Dharbai for our direct ancestors for 3 generations both on fathers
and mothers side, one for karunika Pithrus and four for those who have died without
children, water and food. Then we proceed to Vishnu Padam temple .There out of the
remaining 64 pindams, 16 are exclusively for ones mother remembering what all
hardships she underwent for the childs birth and the rest are for all those who have died
among relatives, in-laws, friends etc. Even the servants and pet animals we had are
remembered and given pindams All the pindams are submitted in The Vishnu
Padam . Vishnu Padams made of copper are available for sale in shops near this
temple. We can buy them and those who have the practice of Vishnu Ilai while
performing Srardham can keep these Padams in front of the Banana leaf
Then we returned to Karnataka Bhavan and did full fledged Srardham The menu for
the Brahmins are Puri, vegetables sambar, rasam buttermilk, payasam and vadai. .After
performing the Srardham again we have to prepare 17 and 64 /48 pindams and take
them to Akshaya vatam or the aalamaram which got the boon of eternity from
SitaThere after Pinda pradanam we have to sacrifice a vegetable, a fruit and a leaf(
By default this leaf is always Aalilai) Vegetable and fruit are as per ones wish. Finally
a gaya barahmin is called and asked whether he is satisfied by the rituals we have done.
When he replies in the affirmative all the pindams are put on the base of the tree. It is
better to keep sufficient coins and currency as the beggars keep chasing us. It was
around 8 PM when we returned to Kashi.
5 th stop Again Kashi
Morning we get up and go to the river to take bath. Then we get into the boat in which a
furnace is kept ready. The lady is to cook a small amount of rice to be made into 17
pindams . After making them she has to cook the rice for the next ghat . The husband
performs tharpanam and submits the pindams to his ancestors and puts them in the
river. By this time the boat arrives in the next ghat. Here both husband and wife takes
bath , get into the boat and repeat the rituals. In this way all the 5 ghats ( Assi Ghat,
Dasaswametha Ghat, ManiKarnika Ghat, panch Ganaga Ghat, Thrilochana Ghat are
covered and it takes about 3 hours. Then we return with a brass pot of Ganga water.
After return we perform Dampathi Pooja wherein an elderly couple are worshipped
as Lord Visvanath and visalakshi. Dhoti set, 9 yards saree, blouse piece, mirror, comb,
manjal kungumam and a mangalyam are given to them. After performing the pooja , we
have to seek their blessings. Next comes Ganga Samaradhanai. The water brought from
the river is worshiped and with feeding 4 pundits in Kala Bhairva Samaradhanai the
rituals in Kashi come to an end. We spent an amount of Rs 20,000 towards all the
rituals performed in Prayag, Kasi, Gaya including the materials for Dhanams and
Dampathi Pooja..

Performing Abishekam for Ramanathswamy in Rameswaram with Ganga

jalam is the next step. After returning home performing a Ganga Samaradhanai is a
must. With that the yatra comes to an end.

Subham