Anantha Padmanabha Vratha

**Author - Alee Venkatesh **
"ANANTHA CHATURDASHI" greetings





ANANTHA PADMANABHA VRATHA, popularly known as “Anantha Chaturdashi” is a Hindu festival which is dedicated to Lord Sri Maha Vishnu; performed each year on the 14th day (Chaturdashi) of sukla paksha in the month of Bhadrapada.  Chaturdashi day which is associated with Poornami (full moon day) tithi is considered as sacred and an auspicious day to perform this vratha (Pooja).

On this day, vratha (Pooja) is performed to worship Lord Anantha (Sri Maha Vishnu) with a red colour silk thread with 14 knots (known as Thora / Dhora) and after completion of Pooja, this dhora is tied to the wrist or shoulder of the men, women & children.  It is a belief that this Dhora acts as a protection to the one who wears it.  This Dhora is retained till next year on the human body and it will be replaced with a new one again at the time of Anantha Padmanabha Vratha.

In South India (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh & Kerala states), there are number of temples which are dedicated to Lord Sri Maha Vishnu (Anantha Padmanabha) and the most prominent among those temples is the temple at Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) in Kerala State which is known are “Ananta Sayananm”.

3 different Ranganatha Kshetras (temples) are situated at Srirangapatna (near Mysore in Karnataka state), Shivana Samudra (near Mandya on the way to Mysore approximately about 100 kms from Bangalore (now known as “Bengaluru” which is the capital city of Karnataka state) are on the banks of river Kaveri (which is a sacred river for Hindus to perform lot of good and bad rituals), lastly Sri Rangam temple in Trichy, Tamil Nadu state.

On this day, traditional food is prepared (Payasam, 2 types of Palya, 2 types of Koosambari, chitranna, rice, tovve, saru (rasam), huli (sambar) and speciality sweet dish "Sajjappa" (recipe @ https://av-vegetarian-kitchen.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/bangalore-speciality-sajjappa.html) and offered as "Naivedhya" (sanskrit word meaning offering to God)" to Lord Anantha Padmanabha during the time of pooja.