Medaram soaks in devotion

Medaram (Jayashankar-Bhupalpally): Religious fervour pervaded Medaram, a tiny tribal village 250km northeast of Hyderabad, as a sea of humanity soaked in devotion witnessing the arrival of Goddess Saralamma to the altars (locally called as Gaddelu) on Wednesday, the first day of four-day biennial jatara.

The rituals started in the wee hours with the Vadde clan Adivasis, who went into the nearby forest late on Tuesday night for bringing bamboo poles, kanka vanam in local parlance, offering prayers to the deity. They installed the bamboos at the altars coinciding with the first rays of sun hitting the earth.

And it was at around 7 pm, the all-important procession in which the tribal priests carrying the vermillion casket, representing Saralamma, tied to a bamboo pole made its way to the altars from Kannepally aka Kanneboyinapalle village.

Even as the thousands of devotees jostling with each other to have a glimpse of deity, the others seeking blessings for prosperity, happiness, success and health, especially those with no offspring craving the priests to walk over them reflect the religious belief associated with the jatara.

As the ritual reached its crescendo, quite a few women went into the trance rolling their eyes, loosening their hair, grunting, gesticulating and dancing ecstatically as they were possessed by Goddess. The procession on its way crossed Jampanna vagu, a stream named after Jampanna, son of Sammakka), where devotees take holy bath to get purified and absolve from sins.As a tradition, the Joint Collector D Amay Kumar accompanied the procession. It may be noted here that Collector and Superintendent of Police of the district will be present at the arrival procession of Sammakka.

On the other hand, Pagididdaraju, Sammakka’s husband, carried by Penaka clan of Punugondla village under Gangaram mandal in Mahabubabad district, traveling 65 kms on foot, also reached the altars. Meanwhile, the Dabbakatla clan priests bring Govindarajulu, Saralakka’s husband, from Kondai under Eturnagaram mandal also arrive at the altars.

After performing special pujas, the tribal priests install the deities on the altars. Meanwhile, a devotee Gayatri Granite Industries Vaddiraju Ravichandra has offered 10 tonnes of flowers specially brought from Bangalore to the temple administration for sprucing up the precincts.