Always on the theme of red, found out more about the scarlet clad people i saw all over Andhra Pradesh:
The lrumudi is the only travelling kit which a pilgrim carries on his head during the pilgrimage. The bag is in two compartments – the front portion is reserved for keeping all the offerings to the deity while the rear part is meant to hold the pilgrims personal requirements for the journey.
The Bhavani Deeksha, also known as Durga Bhavani Diksha or Mala, is a Deeksha or vrata (a kind of blessing) dedicated to Goddess Kanakadurga of Vijayawada. It is observed for 41 or 21 days. The dress code followed is – red coloured shirt and trousers or dhoti and a pancha (shawl type cloth on shoulders).
After taking a dip in the Krishna River and donning the sacred red robes, the devotees climb the adjacent hill to the nearby Durga temple to initiate or end the blessing period (see previous post). For the duration of the Deeksha they must, amongst other things, take baths only with cold water in the early hours of the day, eat limited and simple food, refrain from shaving, haircut and nail trimming during the Deeksha, not see or touch a woman in her menstrual period (i saw women pilgrims also so not sure how this works???) not wear footwear and sleep on the floor for all the 41 days. For full set of rules click here.
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AS we know that Bhavani Deeksha or mala is to be taken either for 41 days or said as mandalam or 21 days, Women as they finish their periods ie 5 days, they can undergo the deeksha for the next comming 21 days.
Many people knew the deeksha vidhanam, this way Bhavani deeksha can be taken by every one from a child to elderly one, man or women, rich or poor etc….
Jai Bhavani
Thanks for the extra info Jai! helps me to understand a little more,
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is there any chance to make it for 3 days
you need to ask a higher power than me!!!
Thank you! I have been trying to figure out what this pilgrimage is called and could not find any details on it. Do you (or anyone) by any chance know if this is taken at a particular time? I mainly want to know if this pilgrimage can be observed at the same time every year.
hello and very sorry for the late reply. I am always in Andhra pradesh for November and December, from what i have observed for the Bhavani Deekshas the culmination of the period always seems to be round about the 23rd/24th December when they walk to a sacred temple on the Krishna river, the Ayyappa Deekshas (dressed in black) on the other hand walk to a sacred site in Kerala round about the 1st of January…but i am no expert, this is just what i have seen! thanks for stopping by!