Nagoba Jatara: Mesrams camp under banyan trees at Keslapur

The Nagoba jatara features a host of rituals and events such as Maha Puja, Bheting, introduction of new daughter-in-laws to the deity, village fair or jatara at the holy place, Praja Darbar, a grievance redressal, Betal Puja, etc

Adilabad: As part of annual religious and cultural affair, Nagoba Jatara, members of Mesram clan continued to camp under sacred banyan trees at Keslapur village in Indervelli for the third day on Wednesday.

The Mesrams arrived at Keslapur on Sunday evening. They have been camping under the trees since then. They would stay at this spot for four day before worshiping the serpentine god Nagoba on February 9. They have already fetched water from Godavari river at Kalamadugu in Jannaram of Mancherial district and carried out publicity about the five day long fair by bullock cart.

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The Nagoba jatara features a host of rituals and events such as Maha Puja, Bheting, introduction of new daughter-in-laws to the deity, village fair or jatara at the holy place, Praja Darbar, a grievance redressal, Betal Puja, etc. 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.

In the meantime, Collector PS Rahul Raj along with Khanapur MLA Vedma Bojju Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA)-Utnoor in-charge project officer Khushbu Gupta convened a review meeting over the progress of the arrangements at Keslapur village on Tuesday. He instructed the officials to take steps to organise the affair on grand note and traditionally.

Raj said that elaborate arrangements were being made for smooth conduct of the fair. He stated that 80 percent of the works were complete. Bojju told the officials to take steps to avoid inconvenience to devotees. He requested the officials to operate adequate buses to Keslapur in view of the large number of women likely to visit the shrine. He asked them to arrange separate lines for women and men.