Krishna Ashtami

Krishna Ashtami

Also referred as janmashtam, Krishna Ashtami is one of the widely followed festivals of Andhra Pradesh. Celebrated between the month of august and September, Krishna Ashtami marks the appearance of Lord Krishna on earth. The devotees maintain a fast on the night of the festival and sing religious hymns. 

The accurate celebration time of Krishna Ashtami depends on the appearance of the star called rohini and the subsequent occurrence of the ashtami tithi. The priests and other ardent followers of Shri Krishna spend the entire night of the occasion in praising the Lord with recitation of slokas from the oldest scripture of Hindu mythology - bhagwat gita.

The following day of the festival starts with offering of arghya to Krishna. People come to the specially made mandapam which is enshrined with an idol of little Krishna. The floor of the mandapam is tastefully decorated in the form colorful designs of the foot prints of infant Krishna. A pot filled with butter and sometimes money, is hung to the ceiling of the mandapam with the help of a string. This one is an integral part of Krishna Ashtami and is locally known as utti. After offering prayers and food like jaggery and ginger, the priest finishes off the puja ceremony with the distribution of prasadams.

The special attraction of Krishna Ashtami is the point when the people start hitting the pot in the hope that they will be able to break it and get the delicious butter and milk. While they engage themselves in targeting the pot, the onlookers splash them with water to make the environment more jovial. This ritual reminds one the deeds of Lord Krishna in his childhood days when he used to break the pots of butter and milk that were carefully stored in the utti by his mother Yashoda.