Devotees bid adieu to tribal deities

Medaram (Mulugu): The four-day razzle-dazzle of the Sammakka Saralamma carnival has come to an end at Medaram in Mulugu district on Saturday with deities returning to their abodes.

The tribal priests took the deity Saralamma to her temple at the Kannepalli, four kilometres from Medaram. Later, Mother Sammakka was also taken to Chilukalagutta hillock, a couple of kilometres from the altars with the devotees bidding adieu amid drumbeats thus marking the end of jatara. The tribal priests also took deities Pagididda Raju (Sammakka’s husband) to Punugonda and Govindaraju (Saralamma’s husband) to Kondai.

According to an estimate, the number of devotees turned to jatara has crossed 1.35 crore by the mid-Saturday. It buttresses the fact that Medaramjatara is one of the world’s biggest tribal congregations. Moreover. the devotee rush at Medaram is to continue till TiruguVaram (Wednesday), albeit not with the same intensity.

Telangana Legislative Council Speaker Gaddam Prasad among other dignitaries paid obeisance to the tribal deities. The other VVIPs who turned to Medaram were Dharmapuri MLA Adluri Laxman Kumar, MLC Balmuri Venkat, High Court Judges Haripriya and Revathi and DIG K Srinivas Reddy. Mulugu district collector Ila Tripathi heaped praise on the rescue team of the Singareni Collieries, staff of health, police, endowments and revenue for their services in the jatara.