Arrival of deities heralds Medaram jatara

The arrival of most revered tribal deity Samakka is all that hundreds and thousands of devotees waited for.

They all held their breath for that benign moment and it finally came.

As the tribal priests descended the Chilakalgutta hillocks carrying the deity, Superintendent of Police Shah Nawaz Qasim and his men fired bullets into the air heralding the arrival of the deity into Medaram village. Carrying a vermilion casket and a bamboo pole considered as the deity and possessed by magic powers, the priests sprinted towards the altar. The devotees jostled and vied to touch them.

Offering sacrifices

The ardent devotees swayed in a trance, some hurled fowls into the air offering a sacrifice to the deity while scores of others rolled on the mud road leading to the altar allowing the tribal priests to walk over them.

Some devotees sprinkled the blood of animals into air they just sacrificed against the racing tribal priests and those accompanying them in a show of their reverence.

The spectacle raked a chill in the flesh of onlookers.

The roar of hundreds of buses carrying pilgrims into the forest was relentless. It was this hour, the devotees look forward when both Samakka and Sarakka adorn the altar at Medaram village which is believed as most auspicious, hence the unending stream.

Serpentine queues

All through the night, the devotees soaked in the chill inching forward in serpentine queues to reach up to the altar.

Those who have been waiting for Samakka too to arrive have camped in surrounding rice fields and amidst bushes in the forest.

Thick fog

They slept in the open enduring the cool winds and thick fog that enveloped the whole area.

Meanwhile, the pilgrims who had earlier fulfilled their vows slowly began leaving the village.

The temporary APSRTC bus stand that had come up for the jatara burst with the multitude of pilgrims on their return journey.

The jatara comes to an end on Saturday when the deities will be taken back by the priests.

The power of Medaram

The power of faith. It has turned Medaram, a tiny and sleepy village in the forest of Eturunagaram into a lively and vibrant place where millions of people have converged for the famous Sammakka Sarakka jatara.

It is the power of faith that changed the shape of this village where everything becomes colossal even if it is for a short while. The ever increasing pilgrims occupy every inch of space.

There are brand new transformers supplying uninterrupted power, a rarity. Water gushes out of taps and a brand new sprawling APS RTC bus stand has come up in the forest apart from a helipad for VIPs that has replaced the bamboo fields.

Needless to say, even the debris left behind is unimaginable.

Simply, the tribal festival is a sight with its sheer size and the spiritual belief of the pilgrims. As plumes of red dust rise unhurriedly, women believed to be possessed by the Goddess dance in a trance. People set up jungle camps everywhere, eat and drink and doze off in the open. When devotees move towards the Jampanna vagu, a small rivulet considered being holy, one is simply pushed ahead without any effort required. Such is the surge of the crowd.

Every two years, tribals of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa undertake what is nothing short of an odyssey as they travel in bullock carts for days together to reach

Medaram and pay obeisance to the legendary koya tribal saints Sammakka Sarakka who became martyrs fighting the imperial forces of the Kakatiya monarch Pratapa Rudra II, eight centuries ago. The tribals believe that the spirits of the legendary tribal warrior women would descend on Medaram during the jatara.