The essence of this ritual is to make a sankalpa to celebrate a festival and get the grace of the Lord. Sastras prescribe doing Ankurarpana 9 days before the festival. If this is not possible at least 7,5,3 days before the main festival Ankurarpana should be done.
Another important thing to note is that ankurarpana should never be done in the day time. This dictum has its basis in astrological principles as Chandra, the Moon is aften termed as the “sasya karaka” the controller of plants. Sowing a seed in the day time is not considered wise. In fact chandra is considered strong in the night. Also an auspicious lagna or muhurta should be used for this purpose as any activity that is started in an auspicious time.
ABOUT PALIKAS
The vessels known as “palikas” are made using gold or silver or copper or mud for performing Ankurarpanam. These vessels should be either 16/12/8 in number. They were placed at Yagashala and seeds were sown in each vessel. The sprouting of the seeds depicts the grandeur in which the festival is being celebrated.
After the Senadhipati Utsavam, Mritsangarahanam, Ankurarpanam was held for Annual Brahmotsavams.
TTD EO Sri Anil Kumar Singhal, Tirumala JEO Sri KS Sreenivasa Raju and others took part in this fete.