nashik the ongoing dry spell has cast a shadow on vaishakh pournima one of the 40 most auspicious occasions of the ongoing sinhastha kumbh period as the chances of devotees taking the holy dip on saturday are almost zero the devotees who visited the ghats of the godavari on friday to mark nrusinha jayanti the birth of lord nrusinha also had to return without having the holy dip as ramkund has dried up and the godavari riverbed has only a few wet patches friday and saturday are the important days during the sinhastha kumbh period that will conclude in august 2016 the devotees were expected to visit the godavari ghat in large numbers but as there is no water in the river their number will reduce for sure having holy dip is in fact a distant dream for all said sadanand shastri joshi a priest on godavari ghat the water bodies in the godavari stretch like gandhi lake have contaminated water which is harmful for health some parts of the river are full of water hyacinths posing another danger to health interestingly the kumbh mela at ujjain will be observing its biggest main shahi snan royal bath on saturday many devotees who could not make it to ujjain try to have a dip in nashik but the drought has failed the plans of such devotees this time its impossible even to enter in the green and muddy water no one would dear take a dip in it said kalpana raut a visitor from gujaratvaishakh pournima is celebrated as buddha pournima across the globe which marks the birth enlightenment and death anniversary of lord buddha many events are scheduled to be held in nashik to mark this occasion the nalanda education and social trust and nashik municipal corporation nmc have together organised twoday buddha festival at trirashmi caves pandav leni the occasion popularly known as buddhas birthday actually commemorates the birth enlightenment nirvna and death mahaparinirvna of the buddha we have invited monks from across the globe to participate in the twoday festival said bhaskar dushing the coordinator of the event the organisers have also planned vehicle rally musical events and an art exhibition at pandavleni on saturday ramai foundation has organised a literary summit in nashik on may 27 the daylong literary summit will see discussions symposiums and lectures on lord buddha various social and cultural organisations youth groups and buddha vihars will celebrate the occasion by performing traditional worship and holding buddha vandana at various places across the city