Mini Medaram jatara gets underway

Mulugu: The buzz returned to the thickets of Mulugu on Wednesday with the start of mini Sammakka Saralamma jatara at Medaram. The mini jatara is much like the biennial fair which begins on 'Magha Suddha Pournami'. Although tribal priests perform the puja on the lines of biennial fair, the tribal deities – Sammakka and Saralamma - will not be brought to the altars from the forest.

The rituals began with the priests belonging to the Siddaboina clan cleaning the temples of Sammakka in Medaram and priests from the Kaka clan at the Saralamma temple in Kanneboinapalli. Siddaboina Jagga Rao, Muninder, Arun Kumar, Vasantha Raju, Laxmi, Dasaratham and Swamy cleaned the Sammakka temple. Kaka Saraiah, Bujanga Rao, Kiran Kumar and Laxmi Bai performed the rituals at the Saralamma temple. Both the temples were highly decked up with mango leaves besides erecting dhwaja stambam in the front yard. The priests offered a country rooster to the deities and tied it at the main entrance of the village and also at the entrance of the main temple.

The jatara is a festival for the women as well. They too decorate their houses and put rangoli in front of their houses.

The authorities say that three to five lakh devotees turn to Medaram during the four-day jatara. The district administration made arrangements for the convenience of the devotees with an estimated cost of Rs 1.52 crore. The officials ensured 160 showers along the Jampannavagu (stream) bathing ghat for the devotees to have holy bath. The administration engaged 120 workers from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh to carry out sanitation work.

Meanwhile, Minister for Tribal Welfare Satyavathi Rathod offered prayers at the altars on the first day of the jatara. She told the officials to ensure the comfort of devotees turning to jatara.