Mega tribal festival begins in Telangana

The biennial 'Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara,' a mega tribal festival was celebrated with gaiety and fervor at Medaram village in Mulugu district of Telangana on Wednesday.

According to an official release, about one crore pilgrims from Telangana and neighbouring Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are expected to visit the festival.

State Governor Tamilsai Soundararajan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao are expected to visit the congregation on February 7, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar told PTI.

Thefour-day mega tribal festival would conclude on February 8.

The state government has released Rs 75 crore for providing necessary facilities for the devotees.

Around 12,000 policemen have been deployed to oversee security arrangements.

As many as 300 CCTV cameras and 10 drone cameras were installed as part of the security detail, it added.

State-owned TSRTC is operating 4,000 bus services to ferry people to and from Medaram.

During the Jatara, declared a state festival by the Telangana government, tribal devotees offer obeisance to goddesses Sammakka and her daughter Saralamma.

As per folklore, the festival commemorates the fight of Sammakka and Saralamma against the oppression of Kakatiya rulers.

On the first day, the arrival of Saralamma on the 'Medaram Gaddhe' (platform) is celebrated while the second day marks the arrival of Sammakka.

White jaggery is the traditional offering made to the two deities.

Devotees often offer jaggery equivalent to their weight, to Sammakka and Saralamma.

They also take a holy bath in Jampanna Vagu (stream).

Somesh Kumar along with the Director General of Police Mahendar Reddy visited the spot and reviewed the arrangements.