Warangal District----- Orugallu(Hyderabad to
Medaram 240 kms)
Route: Hyderabad(MGBS)—Bhongir---bibinagar—aleru—ghanapur--Warangal(Hanumakonda)--Mullugu--Thadvai—Medaram
Trip vehicle: TSRTC
(during fair direct buses are deployed by Tsrtc,6hrs journey)
Members: 2
My visit to Medaram jatara 2016
(Feb 17th-20th):
For
those interested in experiencing tribal lifestyle in the most authentic of
ambience with picturesque locales,this is very popular jathara.After so many
years of postponement ,finally succeeded in attending to
Sammakka Saralamma jathara this year.This time it is 952nd
year festival celebrations.This festival (Jathara) mainly observed
by tribal people {in local language we call them as
"Adavi bidalu" and also by hindu people in core part of
telangana state.
- Samakka and Saralamma are treated as vana-devata's.Usually jathara celebrations takes place biennially (once in every two years) for 4 days,which occurs during Magha Masam pournima (usually falls in the month of February.)It is a festival with no vedic /brahmins influence,all pujas performed by tribal pujaris
- This is a very huge Jathara. People are expected from States like Telangana,Andhra Pradesh,Chattisgarh, Odissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Karnataka to take part in this event.
- The Jathara begins at Medaram (Tadvai Mandal) in Warangal District.Medaram is a remote place in the Eturnagaram Wild Life Sanctuary (i.e a very deep largest forest).
The
Sammakka Sarakka Jathara was declared as a state festival by Andhra Pradesh
government in1998.
My Trip !!!!
we
started from Hyderabad from house around 3 am and reached MGBS at 3:45 am and
parked our 2-wheeler in parking took parking ticket and entered into MGBS and
gone straight to 30th platform where we get Medaram buses &
waited till 5:15 am caught 1st bus which started at5:30 am (Medaram is 240kms away from Hyderabad) after
a long journey at Warangal city our bus driver gave us breakfast break, but I
skipped my breakfast as I don’t want to have breakfast without darshan of
goddesses .
 |
| journey from MGBS |
After travelling 40kms ,First of all we should take darshan of Ghatamma temple (tribals village god) in Mullugu from here medaram is 60kms away.Mullugu Gatamma temple they usually offer whisky as naivedyam (offering )to goddess.From Mulugu Gattamma temple our entire journey moves in deep forest till we reach Medaram (the place where Jathara took place)
Finally
reached Medaram khaman from here it is just 2kms away to the jathara place.
Reached
Medaram (Telangana Government has taken well-care of all facilities) like
sanitary, water, nose-masks, cloth-bags to carry prasadams& shelters in
protecting from heat etc....From bus stop we should walk a km to reach temple and one and half km to reach to Japanna vagu.
Places
to see at Medaram Jathara:
1) Gatamma
Temple (Mulugu village 60kms away enroute to Medaram).
2) Jampanna
Vaggu (previously called as Sampenga Vagu)
 |
| Jampanna Vagu |
Jampanna
Vagu is a tributary to River Godavari.According to the History ,Jampanna is the
tribal warrior and the son of tribal goddess Sammakka.The
Jampanna Vagu took his name as he died in this stream during a battle fighting
against Kakatiya Army.The jampanna vagu is still red in colour believed to be
with blood of jampanna.(scientifically the Red colour of the water is
attributed to the soil composition.)Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in
the jampanna vagu reminds of the sacrifice of their gods who save them and also
induces courage into their souls.
3) Sammakha
gadde (altar)
4) Saralamma
gadde(altar)
5)pagididhiraju
gadde(Sammakka husband)
6)Govindaraju
gadde(Saralamma husband
Festival celebrations!!!!
The priests bring out the Ochre Box(vermillion box) and other relics from deep hidden forest area ,there is a great tumult with frienzied beating of drums ,blowing of trumpets and full throated yells
On the 1st day of festival
17th feb 2016 :
Sarakka /Saralamma goddess diety brought
to Gadde (Altar)from Kannepalli
located 6kms away from Medaram,Kaka ancestors are the pujari for Saralamma,the
diety is brought by tribal pujari Sarayya thru walking from kanepalli.Before
entering into gadde the pujari and fellow followers take a dip in jampanna Vagu
and enter to gadde.
Pagididhiraju diety brought to
gadde from warangal district kothagudem mandal-ponugondla 80kms away to Medaram, in a tradional way the main
pujari Buchiraju get the dieties thru walking via Karalapalli to lakshmipuram
(they stay over night and move next day via pasra-narapalli they reach
Medaram by night.These pujaris belong to Penaka ancestors.
And
from Eturnagaram mandal Kondai village Saralamma
husband Govindaraju diety
will be brought to Medaram by main pujari Govardhan to gadde,The main
pujari while getting the dieties will not even touch water till he reacghes
Medaram gaddelu.
On the 2nd day of festival
18th feb 2016 :
Sammakha
goddess diety brought to Gadde from Chilakalagutta
hillocks located 3kms away from Medaram.Today pagididhiraju and
Samakka marriage is performed in tribal tradition.
On the 3rd day of festival
19th feb 2016 :
People
take holybath in jampanna vaggu (stream) , take darshan and
offer Bangaram /Gold (Jaggery) of quantity equal to their weight to
the goddesses.
On the 4th day of festival
20th feb 2016 :
The
deities of goddesses taken back to the forest sanctum sanctorum on Last
day as the same way as they brought to Jathara from their places.
STHALAPURANA:
It
commemorates the fight of a mother (Sammakha)& daughter (Saralamma) against
Kakatiya Dynasty Prathaparudra deva II.
No further blood related generation of Samakka and
Saralamma
People
who are doing daily pujas from generations they declare themselves as ancestors
of Samakka & Saralamma
Who are Ancestors of Medaram Vana Devata's?
- At
Medaram Jathara 5 gods given major importance.
- Samakka,Saralamma,Jampanna,Pagididhiraju,Govindaraju,
- Pagididhi
Raju followers are Penaka ancestors
- Sarakka
followers are Kaka ancestors
- Sammakka
followers are
--chanda,sidhaboyanna,kokara,mallela,jejari,ancestors.(present pujaris are
sidhaboyanna Munidhar,Mahesh,chanda baburao,kokera Krishnaiya,are main
pujaris,& dobhe,jejari Sarrayya,mallela muthaya are some other
pujaris.
Offering to goddessess!!!!!
People
offer Bangaram /gold (Jaggery) of a quantity equal to their weight to the
goddesses & take holy bath in Jampanna Vagu( stream).
Darshan !!!
Darshan !!!
To
take Darshan of Sammakka &Saralamma gaddes we should pass through the queue
line crowd (nearly it takes minimum of 6hrs to have darshan during these
days.The lines spread over 3kms away.we filled our bottle with coconut water
litre80/- and stood in line.
After
long queue line crowd, finally we reach the khaman of main entrance to
gaddelu(altars).While passing thru queue in middle we see some type of rice
scattered on sarees (called as vadi biyam in local language)and finally we came
near to Gadhelu khaman.
I
offered gold(jaggery) and sarees to both goddesses and returned to bus stop
which is 1km away immediately got into
hyderabad bus and reached Mgbs at 1:00 am
and from parking I collected my 2 two wheeler and reached home around 2:00 am.
There
will be a weigh machine where the temple
authorities measure jaggery which is
equal to the individual weight and offer that jagggery (people call it as gold)
to goddesses.
Finally
entered into gaddelu situated area,here we see heavy crowd at darshan(frankly
speaking we see the gadde's area covered with full of Jaggery,sarees etc as
hillock).Even now-a-days Tribal people majorly use bullock carts as transport
to come to Medaram Jathara.
Sammakka ,Sarakka Altars & Padigidhi raju ,Govindaraju Altars
(In local language called
as Vana pravesam)
 |
| Vanapravesam |
(0n
20th Feb 2016) Last day of festival celebrations comes to end by taking back
Godesses to Forest, as how they are brought to Jathara same way they
follow tradition as the priests bring out the Ochre Box(vermillion box) and
other relics from gaddelu ,there is a great tumult with frienzied beating of
drums ,blowing of trumpets and full throated yells while taking back
dieties back to forest.
How to reach Medaram:
Now-a-days there is an arrangement for helicopter.
TSRTC deployed 4000 buses from all places
From
hyderabad to medaram: distance 240 kms
Bus
cost : AC bus -- 552/-,super luxury --447,normal bus--337/-
Even now-a-days village people use bullock carts for transport to attend Medaram jathara.
Even now-a-days village people use bullock carts for transport to attend Medaram jathara.
E
Accomdation:
As
it is deep forest no accomdation available nearer.People can stay at Haritha
resorts at laknavaram lake (35kms away) or Warangal (100 kms
away from Medaram).
BRIEF HISTORY OF JATHARA: (Taken story source from wiki) !!!!!
There are many legends
about the miraculous powers of sammakka .According to a tribal story, about 6-7
centuries ago,that is in the 13th century, some tribal leaders who went for a
hunting found a new born girl (Sammakka) emitting enormous light playing amidst
tigers. She was taken to their habitation . The head of the tribe adopted
her and brought up as a chief tain (She later became the saviour of the
tribals of the region) she was married to Pagididda Raju a feudatory tribal
chief of Kakatiyas(who ruled the country of Andhra from Warangal City between
1000 AD and 1380 AD).She was blessed with 2 daughters and one son namely
Sarakka, Nagulamma and Jampanna respectively.
After sometime, there was a
severe drought that lasted for years and as a result the mighty Godavari River
dried up. pagedde Raju didn't pay tribute to King Pratapa Rudra. In
turn king Pratapa rudra sent his army to subdue the tribals and collect the
tribute. Then a War was fought between tribal chief pagidde Raju and Kakatiya
army on the banks of "Sampenga Vagu" (Jampanna Vagu). The Koya army
fought valiantly but could not with stand the well equipped Kakatiya army.
Though fought valiantly Pagididda Raju, his daughters Sarakka, Nagulamma, son
in law Govinda Raju lost (husband of Sarakka) lives in the battle. Later
Jampanna also dies in Sampenga Vagu (after renamed as Jampanna Vagu in the
memory of his heroic fight against well trained Kakatiya army). .
Upon
hearing this news Sammakka also enters war and fights and causes lot of damage
to kakatiya army. Surprised by her Bravery And Valour the Kakatiya Prime
Minister visited war ravaged Koya kingdom with proposal of peace and offered
Sammakka a place in the emperor’s harem as the chief queen. Samakka
turned down the offer and resolved to continue the fight to avenge the
dead. The battle continued and Sammakka was seriously wounded
. Samakka told her people that as long as they remembered her, she would
protect them. Then, she cursed the Kaktiya dynasty to perish And
with that wounded body proceeded towards Chilakala gutta and disappeared
in the forest. The grieving Koyas searched for their queen all they found
were a red ochre box(a container of vermilion), her bangles … and the pug
marks of a huge full grown tigress, exactly the same place where she was found
as a infant by the koyas. The Kakatiya dynasty came to an end very soon.
Since then the Koyas, Waddaras and other Indian tribes and castes have been
holding festivals in memory of Sammakka and Sarakka regularly.
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