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Devaragattu braces for ‘bloody fight’
For centuries every year, Dasara celebrations witness devotees armed with sticks from three villages descending on the streets of Devaragattu, a small town in the Alur mandal of Kurnool district.
- Every year streets in Devaragattu get splattered with blood
- Two rival groups fight fiercely with sticks for grabbing presiding deity Malleswara Swamy
- Police, despite all claims of clamping down on the violent clash, remain mute witness, while devotees shed blood
- Believers argue the ‘bloody fight’ is embedded in tradition
Kurnool: For centuries every year, Dasara celebrations witness devotees armed with sticks from three villages descending on the streets of Devaragattu, a small town in the Alur mandal of Kurnool district. They fight to grab the idols of the presiding deity of the Mala Malleswara Swamy temple. It is a fierce fight in which the devotees on both sides shed blood. The streets leading to the temple get splattered with blood.
Efforts by the district administration notwithstanding, the annual “fight” during celebrations continue uninterrupted at Devaragattu hill on the outskirts of Neradi village. Not less than four lakh people from various places throng the hill to watch the celebrations, while 3,000 devotees clash with each other with sticks. After the celestial wedding of Malleswara Swamy with Mala Devi, the priest and residents of Neraniki, Neraniki tanda and Kothapeta villages escort the procession of the deities as over 10,000 people witness it. Two opposing groups start fighting with each other to grab the idol of the presiding deity. This year too, Neraniki, Neraniki tanda and Kotthapeta villages are bracing themselves for midnight stick fight in the first week of October. The blood-spattered fight continues till the next morning sometimes with rival group making all efforts to protect the idols, if they are stolen by their opponents. At the same time, the principal priest would pierce his leg with a needle and spill blood to appease demons.
Though more than 100 persons suffered bloody injuries last year too, the police claimed that celebrations ended on peaceful note. The police every year claim to have combed every inch of the three villages which provide fighters for the bizarre fight and seized sticks and weapons. But the fighters and weapons materialise from nowhere on the D-Day. The police every year remain mute witness to the violence on the streets of the villages.
