Nagoba Jatara begins on a grand note in Adilabad

Under the supervision of Mesram Venkat Rao and priests Kosu, members of the clan performed Maha Puja and Satheek puja to kickstart the seven-day holy ceremony

Adilabad: The annual Nagoba Jatara, an important religious and cultural affair of the Mesram clan in the Raj Gond community began on a grand note at Keslapur village in Indervelli mandal on Friday evening.

Under the supervision of Mesram Venkat Rao and priests Kosu, members of the clan performed Maha Puja and Satheek puja to kickstart the seven-day holy ceremony between 9 pm and 11 pm by closing gates of the shrine.

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Led by men, women of the clan earlier in the day brought water drawn from a holy pond in clay pots and used it in cleansing the shrine, conducting the rituals and preparing dishes. After the customary rituals, the Mesrams then felicitated Khanapur MLA Vedma Bojju, Collector Rahul Raj, ITDA Utnoor in-charge project officer Khushbu Gupta and SP Gaush Alam for gracing the inaugural ceremony. They allowed tribals to visit the temple and to offer special prayers from midnight onwards.

The ceremony of Bheting, a formal introduction of new daughter-in-laws to the deity, was a special attraction on the first day of the fair. About 100 women from the families of the clan participated in the event. The ceremony makes them eligible to offer prayers at the temple. The women were later given clay pots from their elders as part of the ritual.

Persapen and Bankapen Puja are going to be performed on February 11, while Praja Darbar, a grievance redressal will be held on February 12. Betal Puja and Mandagajling Puja is scheduled to be conducted on February 13. Half a dozen Raj Gond elders jump in the air reportedly after getting possessed by the Betal god. They exhibit their fighting prowess by rotating large sticks that represent the god. As many as 600 policemen were deployed to prevent untoward incidents at the fair, while a lighting system, drinking water, temporary toilets and parking lots were created for smooth conduct of the affair.

Nagoba Jatara sees the second largest congregation of tribals from several parts of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh after biennial Sammakka-Saralamma jatara at Medaram of Mulugu district.