Telangana, Himachal Governors, CM, attend 'Medaram Jatara'

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao offered prayers on Friday at 'Sammakka Saralamma Jatara', a four-day mega tribal festival, at Medaram village in the states Mulugu district.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya accompanied them.

During the Jatara, declared a state festival by the Telangana government, tribal devotees offer obeisance to Goddesses Sammakka and her daughter Saralamma at Medaram which is located in a forest area.

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

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

Jaggery is the traditional offering made to the deities.

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

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

While Dattatreya and Soundararajan visited Medaram in the morning, Rao offered prayers in the afternoon.

They made traditional offerings to Sammakka and other deities.

The festival, being attended by lakhs of devotees from Telangana and other states, including Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, began on February 5.

Around 12,000 policemen have been deployed as part of the security arrangements.

As many as 300 CCTV cameras and 10 drone cameras were installed as part of the security detail, official sources had said.

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) operated 4,000 bus to ferry people to and from Medaram.