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8 lakh devotees may throng Nagoba
About eight lakh devotees are expected to throng the four-day annual Nagoba festival which takes off at Keslapur of Indravelli mandal in pitch darkness on the Amavasya day of February 7.
Adilabad: About eight lakh devotees are expected to throng the four-day annual Nagoba festival which takes off at Keslapur of Indravelli mandal in pitch darkness on the Amavasya day of February 7.
The Adivasis enjoy the event—the second biggest festival in Telangana that is described as Kumbh Mela for tribals—for four days, riding their bullock-carts, in gay abandon. Nagoba is the presiding deity of the Mosram community, which believes that if worshipped he will shower them with wealth fulfilling their wishes.
Tribals belonging to 22 sects wash the deity with the Godavari water during the Mahapuja using traditional musical instruments to launch the festival. Prior to that, they take the snake god’s idol in a padayatra to the river for performing ‘abhishekam’.
They bring to the spot new pots ‘Sirikonda’ for cooking food after putting up 22 ‘poyyilu’ (hearth) in a phased manner, Nagoba Jatara Committee chairman Mesram Tukkaram told The Hans India. He said devotees from Telangana, Maharashtra, MP, Chattisgarh and AP would attend the festival. Adequate arrangements are being made for them.
During the festival the stress is on strengthening relationship bonds, particularly the introduction of new daughters-in-law during ‘beting’, which, they believe, will lead to strong ties, said community leader Mesram Sukka Rao. The newly-wed, wearing white dress and masks, perform pooja before seeking blessings of their elders.
They ask for permission to have god’s darshan. Those not taking part in beting and not seeking blessings won’t be allowed to have darshan. Participants in the Nagoba Jatara will make a beeline to the Shyampur Kamdevuni Jatara.
The Nagoba Jatara has a historic background. During the Nizam’s regime a Nagoba ‘darbar’ was launched, paving the way for finding solutions to problems facing girijans. The district collector continues the tradition of holding the darbar, which becomes a forum for redressing grievance of the participants by officials.
After the formation of Telangana State the event is being organised as a State festival, with active participation of ministers in the darbar. The government has allotted Rs.10 lakh. The ministers hold out promises of allotting forest land, education and employment facilities. However, Mesram leader Sone Rao criticised the administration’s indifference to meet the tribals’ demands.
Ministers Jogu Ramanna and A Indrakaran Reddy have pledged to develop the festival venue as a tourism centre and to build guest houses for the devotees, besides a compound wall around the Nagoba temple, with parks. However, none of the promises have been fulfilled. Even the minimum toilets and bathroom facilities are lacking.
