Kolam by Sudha Balaji

Varalakshmi Vratham ( வரலட்சுமி விரதம் in Tamil ) , Varamahalakshmi Pooja ( ವರಮಹಾಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಪೂಜಾ in Kannada )  and వరలక్ష్మి వ్రతం  in Telugu  is a very popular festival for Goddess Lakshmi.  For me the preparations start on Thursday, the previous day.  Cleaning all the Pooja vessels and Pooja room takes a lot of time. On Thursday ,  I purchase all the flowers, fruits, kewda flowers, mango leaves for thoran and plantain plants for mantapa alankara. Hridaya kamalam is my most favourite rangoli for the mantapa.  We can draw Aishwarya Patra rangoli also. Neivedyam preparation starts early in the morning on Friday , around 4.30 am because the Pooja should commence before 10.30 am on Friday. The early bird is always lucky ,   so I thanked the Goddess because there was a general power shut down from 9 am to 5 pm.  If I had delayed naievedyam would have been affected..  Offerings include, appe payasa , ambod...

Varamahalakshmi festival  2018 will be celebrated on 24th of August Gejje vastra significance    It is a symbolic representation of new vastra or dress for God or Goddess The image shows the Yamuna kalasam for Varamahalakshmi Pooja decorated with gejje vastra The completed gejje vastra .  Two cotton spheres are made ,dipped in kumkum mixed in water.  They are stuck to the vastra, then used to stick the vastra to the Varalaxmi idol or kalash Purchase cotton from Puja shops this is workable and easy for us to stretch.  Cotton from pharmacies i.e surgical cotton is not workable as it is packed in layers  You may also want to know How to draw various designs of  Goddess Feet in rangoli    This cotton splits easily into two quite easily. Again split it to get  thin long cotton suitable for making the vastra.  The idea of offering this cotton garland decoration is that we imagine that we are offering a new dress to G...

   Update: Vararalakshmi Vratham 2018 date is 24th August (Friday ) It is preferable to celebrate the festival on that day when it meant to be celebrated as per Panchangam However if for any reason we are not able to celebrate on that day we can celebrate on any Friday of Aavani month If we miss the Aavani ( Sravan ) month we can celebrate on a Friday during Navratri On Thursday before the Pooja day , the Pooja room is cleaned well and all the photos of Gods in the Pooja room are cleaned with a wet cloth  Apply sandalwood paste in the form of a tilak to the photos.  Then apply turmeric powder and kumkum on the sandalwood paste .  This is done usually for the forehead and Feet of the photos of God The items required for Pooja or betel nut leaves, areca nut ( pakku ) , coconut , five types of flowers and five types of fruits Of the flowers lotus and Thazampoo ( screw pine ) are important for this festival Mandapam decoration The images below should ...