WARANGAL: The historic Mallikarjuna Swamy Jatara, one of the biggest religious fairs in Telangana, began at the Lord’s temple in Inavolu in Wardhannapet mandal in the Warangal district on Friday on a grand note. The celebrations began after the temple priests performed special rituals and decorated the presiding deities of Mallikarjuna Swamy, Golla Kethamma and Balija Medalamma with new robes. The wedding of presiding deities Mallikarjuna Swamy, incarnation of Lord Shiva, and his consorts Golla Kethamma and Balija Medalamma would be the highlight of the jatara.
The Inavolu temple is patronised mainly by Yadava, Golla, Kuruma, and Balija communities. The devotees use turmeric as the main offering to the deity and perform Bonalu with newly harvested rice cooked with milk and jaggery.
The people who arrived in the village set up temporary tents for staying near the temple so that they could take part in the jatara. The entire temple and the surroundings are beautifully lit up for the occasion. But facilities for the devotees are very poor, causing inconvenience to them. The State government had not even set up temporary sheds for them.
After taking a bath, the devotees had a darshan of the Lord at the temple. Though the government has set up water taps for bathing purposes, there are no changing rooms for women devotees.Mallikarjuna Swamy temple endowments officer (EO) A Nageshwar Rao stated that they expected about six lakh devotees to visit the temple during the jatara.