Telangana: Medaram Jatara begins, 1.25 crore footfall expected to celebrate Adivasi icons Sammakka and Sarakka

The most anticipated Telangana’s four-day Medaram Jatara has begun Wednesday. The event is celebrated as Asia’s largest tribal fair which is celebrated over the period of four days every two years. The fair is taking place at Medaram village of Mulugu district. Over 1.25 crore people are expected to come together at the village to celebrate Adivasi icons Sammakka and Sarakka. They were considered to be the protectors of the community. The fair will end on February 19.

According to the legends, the story takes us back eight centuries ago where tribal king Medaraju was the ruler of the habitations along river Godavari. The ruler failed to pay a royalty to the Kakatiya kings of the region owing to severe drought. The Kakatiya rulers, after that, invaded the land that led to the death of Medaraju and his daughters Sammakka and Sarakka in the fight.

The Adivasi community has it that both the daughters Sammakka and Sarakka turned into caskets of vermillion. The former was found near a bamboo grove on a hillock, the latter was found at Kannepalli village, 4 km away from Medaram. So, once in every two years, the tribals offers tribute and prayers at the bamboo grove and bring back the casket of vermillion and bamboo sticks wrapped in red cloth glorifying the return of Sammakka and Sarakka.

Both are placed under an Indian elm tree at Medaram village before beginning with the four-day festivities. After this, all the tribals are returned to the forest. During the festivities, they offer jaggery equal to their own weight as a replacement of gold. Red cloth, vermillion and turmeric is also part of offerings to the deities.

The 4-day fair not only sees participants from the tribal community. This also attracts non-Adivasis. The state government this year has spent around Rs 364 crore in the arrangements of this fair. The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has also sanctioned Rs 2.26 crore for Medaram Jatara.

There are a host of other facilities arranged for the fair. The Mulugu district administration and the police have arranged drinking water, sanitation, parking grounds, traffic diversions, police outposts among others.
As many as 9,000 policemen have also been deployed on the ground to ensure law and order as well as tight security for VVIP guests.

In order to watch the crowd, as many as 382 CCTV cameras along with two drone cameras have been installed to monitor the crowds. Command and control centre has also been set up by the Police to assist the crowd.
Fifty public information centres have also been set up in order to guide the devotees.

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has set up a temporary bus stand at Medaram village. It will operate 3,845 buses from different parts of the state. TSRTC hopes to transport some 21 lakh passengers a day although the administration expects nearly 3.5 lakh private vehicles too.

The shuttle helicopter services will also be operating, as per the state government’s order between February 14-20 to Medaram from Hanumakonda at Rs 19,999 per person. There are also Charter services available to Medaram from Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar and Karimnagar for Rs 75,000, Rs 1 lakh, and Rs 75,000, respectively, reported the Indianexpress.com.