Medaram prasadam turns bitter-sweet

Medaram (Warangal): The biennial Sammakka Saralamma Jatra is basically a festival of adivasis and tribals and the main offering made to the deities, is jaggery along with turmeric and vermillion.

The devotees who mainly comprise of Koya, Gond, Lambada and Nayakpod tribes offer jaggery, which gets a godly status and is called Bangaram (gold). The non-tribal devotees who visit Medaram abide by the established customs.

During the festival tonnes of jaggery gets accumulated around the Gaddelu (platform) and the government bids tenders to clear the jaggery.

By compulsion, the contract is always given to local tribals, who take a small portion of the offering as ‘prasad’.

Unfortunately, this is where the problems have manifested themselves. The contractors are not allowing devotees to take prasadam, much to their dismay.

Those employed by the jaggery contractor get physical when some try to take small portions of the prasadam. The devotees have protested against such highhandedness even during the earlier jatras. But nothing has changed. It was alleged that those connected with a particular media house obtained the benami contract, making it even more difficult for the devout. “It has been a practice since decades to take jaggery, turmeric and vermillion with us after the darshan. But the jaggery contractors are not allowing us to take them with us. This is very sad” complained a devotee Madhurima from Karimnagar.

The officials should control the jaggery contractors and their workers and allow the devotees to take the prasadam, demanded some more. It was alleged that the contractor who employs about fifty persons for collecting the jaggery sells it those into brewing illicit liquor, besides selling it the open market in Rajahmundry.