WARANGAL: With the re-entry of the tribal Goddesses Sammakka-Sarakka and other tribal deities into the forest in a ritual called ‘Vanapravesham’, the four-day, biennial Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara concluded on Saturday evening.
While Sammakka was taken back to Chilakala Gutta, Saralamma returned to Kannepally and Padigiddaraju and Govindraju too returned to their respective places.
To mark the culmination of the Jatara, special rituals have been performed by tribal priests in which lakhs of pilgrims took part. However, thousands of devotees thronged the Gaddelu even after ‘Vanapravesham’ of the deities, in the belief that their spirits would be lingering there for a week to bless them. Meanwhile, district collector Vakati Karuna, who has been camping there since the beginning of Jatara, appreciated the officials, volunteers and others for making the tribal festival a grand success without any untoward incidents.
When asked about the estimated number of the pilgrims, Warangal Rural SP Ambar Kishor Jha said “The number of the pilgrims has definitely gone up this Jatara, when compared to the previous one held in 2014. However, we cannot figure out the number at this juncture. It can be estimated only after discussing with other officials.” It should be noted that though the Jatara had been formally kicked off on Wednesday (Feb 17), the pilgrims’ arrival began much earlier, in November 2015 itself. Speaking to media persons, Endowments minister Indrakaran Reddy observed that the pilgrims’ number might be over 1.4 crore.
Meanwhile, Union minister of State for labour and employment, Bandaru Dattatreya, BJP district president Ashok Reddy, TDP MLA Revanth Reddy, Warangal range DIG B Malla Reddy and other VIPs offered Bangaram (jaggery) to the deities on the last day of Jatara.