Keith Bellows, National Geographic Society 
"There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds... I had been seeing the world in black & white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor."
Global Hindu Heritage Foundation is very happy to participate and help coordinate Jatara of Sri Kanakamaha Lakshmi in Kottur Village. It is a festival to honor the Village Goddess in East Godavari. It is usually celebrated every two years.
    It is A two week festival where processional carrying of Goddess is taken to different villages where a large number of villagers congregate to celebrate the energy and power of Goddess.
    The Schedule of JATARA:
    September 1      Jatara Starts from Kottur
    September 4     Jatara at Korangi Mondi
    September 8    Small Jatara at Ramanna Palem
    September 12    Big Jatara
    September 13      Bog Jatara in Kottur
    September 14     Special Teertham is given in Kottur
    September 15 Large gathering – conclusion of Jatara.
    The rituals in celebration of Processional carrying of Goddess is carried out for 15 days to different villages and Sri Kanaka Maha Lakshmi will return to Kottur.
    Many religious activities are planned at night, storytelling goes on continuously and bhajan singing goes on in every village. It attracts large number of villagers and they come to get the benefit of Darshan and blessings.
•    Villagers believe that they should not take the picture of Sri Kanaka Maha Lakshmi, it is amazing find out that nobody takes a picture of Devi in the Temple.
•    They also believe once they promise to do to Devi, they would do as per the promise. 
•    They also believe once they visit the Temple and have her darshan, their desires are fulfilled.
Sri Pinnamaneni Srinivas went to attend the Jatara and  joined Ajay Varma to participate in the Jatara. He said that he had not seen that many people in these days attending Jatara. The climate was highly religious and spiritual. So much excitement and so many religious activities was the mark of the Jatara.
Temporary stalls are installed
Many temporary stalls came up on either side of the narrow pathways leading to the main altar selling food, tea, coconuts, flowers, incense, vermilion, children’s’ toys, cheap clothes and plethora of pilgrims’ souvenirs. They have a good estimate of how many people might attend and they make sure the people will have the opportunity to offer the religious items to Goddess based on the age-old customs. 
WE NEED YOUR HELP
We appreciate it if you can help in hiring more people who can go to these villages to do Ghar Waapasi. We have employed 26 people so far. More people we hire, more villages can be covered to welcome them back and also create Chaitanya (Awareness) among the students and villagers.
1) Donate any amount to help the Dharma Pracharaks to work at the ground level.
2) Sponsor one Pracharak: In order to expand our base and hire one Pracharak, it would cost approximately $3000.00 - $3500.00 per year. We have five anonymous donors who sponsored 9 Pracharaks
DONATIONS
PayPal Method: To donate visit our website: savetemples.org. Click on the Donate button, then press the Purpose category, and select the General Donation category.
By Check: Or you can send a check payable to: GHHF, . It is tax-deductible.
By Zelle: ghhfusaorg@gmail.com
By Rupees, please contact us by either phone or email.
For more information, call Prakasarao V Velagapudi ; Email: ghhfusaorg@gmail.com