Its customised Panchagam for political parties

Hyderabad: Ugadi or Yugadi is taken from the Sanskrit language where 'Yuga' stands for 'age' and the word 'Adi' means 'beginning'. So, the entire word Ugadi means, 'beginning of a new age'. When Ugadi arrives, the fragrance of jasmine flowers can be felt everywhere. It is also said that Lord Brahma started creating universe on this day, hence it is called Ugadi. It is a tradition in the Southern States to read out the Panchangam on this auspicious occasion.

Panchangam is the Hindu almanac which follows traditional units of Indian time-keeping and presents important dates and their calculations in a tabulated form. The study of Panchangams involves understanding the impact of the signs of the zodiac and to set the auspicious dates for weddings and other worldly activities.

The actual casting of a Panchangam involves elaborate mathematical work involving high level of spherical geometry and sound understanding of astronomical phenomena. It states the positions of Sun and Moon and other planets for every day, month and year based on which general predictions about what is in store for the people are made.

But for the past few years, the pundits who read out the Panchangams at various party offices or during official celebrations organised by the government, are going into micro-analysis and the predictions are becoming tailor-made. Stretching the Panchangam too far they have even started predicting the success rate of various government schemes.

For example, during the official Panchanga Sravanam of the Telangana government at Ravindra Bharati on Saturday, the astrologers not only predicted that the State would get good rainfall, but even went on to the extent of saying that it would receive 40 per cent more than neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Guntupalli Sairam, who read out the Panchangam at Ravindra Bharati, predicted that the new airports would be completed soon in the State and government would be able to attract many industrialists by May and many job opportunities would be created in the IT sector. He also predicted that new airports would come up in Telangana. The astrologer even felt that the Chief Minister should take measures to prevent trouble in departments like municipalities, registration and power sectors. He, however, said there would be no power shortage because of the measures taken by the State government.

Tangirala Venkata Krishna Purna Prasad of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) by and large gave general predictions at Thullur that the residuary State would witness industrial growth and there was good scope for the growth of education sector, particularly medical education. Prasad said the government would become successful in implementing the gigantic task of constructing the new World class capital city. He further predicted that the farmer would feel happy that he had got good returns for his produce, despite possibility of deficit rainfall.

Dr Chilukuri Srinivasa Murthy, who read the Panchangam at Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) office predicted that there would be several scams in the government and it would bring bad name for the ruling party. He said all government programmes would come to standstill and violence in society would grow. According to him, there would be more atrocities against women and more schism among family members.

He said Congress party would stand by the people and take up agitations and that would make it emerge as a strong force. Marepalli Ramachandra Sastri, who performed Panchanga Sravanam, at YSRCP office felt that the TDP government would fail in implementing its schemes and by next elections there would be no opposition for YSRCP.

By:V Ramu Sarma