Thousands attend Rottela Panduga on first day

Nellore : A five-day Rottela Panduga (festival of breads) began on a traditional note coinciding with Muharram and Tholi Ekadasi, at Bara Shaheed Dargah here on Wednesday.

The Nellore Tank (Swarnala Cheruvu) where the devotees exchange rottelu (breads) after having holy a dip turned a sea of humanity with thousands of people from all faiths converging not only from across the country but also abroad to exchange rottelu during the five-day festival.

There was an interesting story behind the exchange of rottelu. According to historians, few years after the bodies of 12 Muslim warriors of Karnataka who died in Hindu, Muslim conflict were buried at Bara Shaheed Dargah, the spouse of Arcot Nawab was afflicted with an undisclosed disease.

As legend has it, one night 12 Muslim warriors appeared to the Nawab advised him to visit Barashahid Darga in the interest of his wife’s health.

As per their advise, he visited Nellore and had darshan of the tombs. A day after his visit, his wife recovered from affliction. During his visit, the Arcot Nawab offered some rottelu (breads) as Naivedyam to the Muslim warriors and later distributed them to the devotees.

Since then, it has become a belief among the devotees that their problems would be solved if they fulfil vows of offering rottelu at Bara Shaheed Dargah during Rottela Panduga.

Earlier, it was the practice to offer ‘Santhena Rotte, Soubhagya Rotte, Jabbu Rotte (health)’. Gradually it has become a kind of fad for people to take a vow to exchange breads for different wishes like Udyogya Rotte, Vidya Rotte, Pelli Rotte, Gruha Rotte, Videsiyanam Rotte, etc for the fulfilment of their wish. Those whose wishes were fulfilled, offer the same rotte (like vidya rotte or job rotte) to another person who is wishing it himself or herself during the festival.

In view of avoiding stampede, the municipal administration has displayed boards on the banks of Nellore tank indicating the names of the rottelu in view of easily identifying venue for exchange of their rottelu.

This year, heavy crowds were seen at Udyoga Rottelu venue with the youth in large numbers exchanging the breads. “After several attempts to secure a job, finally I came here to pick up a rotte with the ambition of getting one,” said a B.Ed graduate M Venkateswara Rao of Rajahmundry in East Godavari district. He applied for teacher post under Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for which notification was issued recently.

The second most popular rotte is ‘marriage rotte’ with the youth, both male and female, were eagerly searching for exchange of rottelu at the specified place.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong in exchanging marriage rotte as I got every freedom to select my life partner. How could you say it is violation of tradition?” said V Rajya Lakshmi, 25, from Gadwal of Mahabubnagar in Telangana.

The city wore a festive look with the vendors arranging clothes, sweets, eatables, rottelu and other shops on the both sides of Podalakuru road which were thronged by people in colourful attire.

As many as 500 stalls selling a variety of goods were established for the devotees at the place. “I hope to sell boondi worth Rs 25,000 during the festival with the heavy turnout seen compared to last year,” said V Hemantha Kumar of Kuppam who set up a boondi shop at the Dargah.