Poli Swargam Last Day of Karthika Masam

Hope you all learned and enjoyed this post .This is the last post for this Karthika Season Special.
The last day of the Karthika Masam is  known as "Poli -Swargam". Devotees celebrate this day by lighting  cotton wicks  (Deeparadhana votthulu) count of 33 which represent the whole month and the remaining two are for that day lighting lamps. 

One more ritual is followed by the women , is that  lighting 33 lamps  placing wicks  on top of the Gooseberry (Usiri) ,placing them Usiri Deepalu  on the betel leaves in front of the God.

On this particular day women of all ages including young girls who are not  married wake up early in the morning ,take spiritual head bath, perform pooja and then head to koneru or a small pond near by temple to leave the lights lit on plantain stems .These diyas are generally made of rice flour  .It is believed that the so called Poli goes to heaven if we leave those lights in a pond and perform all the rituals .This is mostly seen near the Durga Ghat near Vijayawada .People even perform prayers during dusk and leave those diyas .If they cannot reach the pond/koneru they leave them in a large vessel or bucket filled with  water. 

Rice Flour lamps 

All the devotees go for a fast and break the fast at dusk after leaving the diyas. They read the story of Poli during the pooja

The story of Poli:

Once upon a time near a village in Krishna District there lived a Washer man, whose wife  Maali is very  cruel  at her behavior.They had four sons,all of them married, but to her luck the first  three of her daughter-in-laws are cruel and the last one is Poli who is said to be the most innocent and kind hearted.
Poli was harassed by her sisters and her mother-in-law.Her husband never said a word against them as he  is the youngest of all and he respected them all. 
As time passed   by she earned a lot patience and kind heart from their behavior . Then one day Karthika masam started ,so ,people started worshiping Lord Shiva & Vishnu after performing holy rituals.

Maali who is a cruel person  wanted to use this opportunity against Poli , by not allowing  her to perform any of the rituals in this month.Hence she used to perform all the rituals with her three daughter-in -laws locking down Poli at her house and avoiding her from performing any ritual.

Even though they locked Poli in their house they never concentrated on the rituals , their inner soul always used to think about Poli and what  is she doing.
Mean while Poli prayed Lord Vishnu explaining her pitiful and pathetic condition and why could not she perform all the rituals.She prayed him with all her soul and purity without performing any rituals .Lord Vishnu is so pleased by her prayers & sent one of his Gate Keeper to bring Her to Vykuntam alive in a Golden plane on the last day of Karthika masam.

When Poli along with the Gate Keeper started to ascent into the sky her mother- in -law along with her other daugther-in-laws reached home and wished that they should also go along with Poli. So, they caught Poli's feet and flew along with her.
When the Gate Keeper  saw them he cut the hands of Maali , yelling at them that they deserve Hell rather than Heaven for their ill behavior and Jealously towards Poli.

Moral of the Story:

• Always pray with whole heart .
• Drive away the jealous about other people.Incorporate inner peace and patience.
• Help  and serve others with kindness. As God lives in Humans , serving other people is serving  the Almighty. 
• Attain sanctity only with true concentration in prayers this involves only purity not eternal decorations.