Medaram jatara held successfully, nearly 1.35 crore pilgrims visit tribal shrine

Mulugu: With the return of the tribal Goddesses Sammakka-Sarakka to the respective abodes on Saturday evening, the Asia’s biggest tribal congregation Medaram jatara, which is also known as Telangana’s Khumb Mela, has successfully concluded. Though the biennial jatara commenced officially on Wednesday (February 16), devotees started pouring in to the Medaram, a small village tucked […]

Mulugu: With the return of the tribal Goddesses Sammakka-Sarakka to the respective abodes on Saturday evening, the Asia’s biggest tribal congregation Medaram jatara, which is also known as Telangana’s Khumb Mela, has successfully concluded.

Though the biennial jatara commenced officially on Wednesday (February 16), devotees started pouring in to the Medaram, a small village tucked away in the Eturnagaram wildlife sanctuary in the Mulugu district, a month ago. “While 75 lakhs pilgrims visited the tribal shrine to pay their obeisance in the four-day jatara since Wednesday, nearly 60 lakhs visited the temple in about a month before the official commencement of the jatara,” said Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, who has been monitoring the arrangements at the Medaram by camping there for the last four days.

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The Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy too camped there to oversee the arrangements and ensure smooth running of the jatara for the benefit of the jatara which is visited by people from different States. “The State government led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, which is striving to promote historic places and fairs in the State, had allotted Rs 75 crore for the Medaram jatara this year for the arrangements including creation of permanent facilities. Rs 10 crore were additionally allotted to the jatara by the Endowments Department represented by Minister Indrakaran Reddy,” Dayakar Rao added.

As the role of the police department is key in the success of the jatara, the State government is going to create permanent facilities for the police at Medaram. “We will soon take up steps for the construction of the permanent sheds for the benefit of the police as well as the RTC staff at Medaram. We are happy to announce that we had completed the Asia’s biggest jatara without any traffic snarls,” said Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy.

The devotees have continued to throng the shrine even the last day. As usual, the traditional Adivasi folk artists along with their instruments have enthralled the audience during the gathering on the final day of the jatara. The Koya Komma dance from Badrachalam, Naikpodu and Gond dancers had participated in the traditional dance forms.

As it was tradition, the tribal priests of Sarakka took the deity to her abode at the Kannepalli village and the priests of Samakka took her back to the Chilakalagutta hillocks from Medaram amidst police bandobast.

Governor visits Medram: Meanwhile, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan along with her family members visited the Medaram and offered prayers to the tribal deities, and offered jaggery (bangaram) equal of her weight. On the other hand, the sanitation workers have launched special sanitation drive to remove the waste including the meat and poultry waste along with the regular garbage left behind near the Medaram shrine and forest areas by the devotees. The Ministers have appreciated the district administration, police personnel and NGOs for their service during the jatara.

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