‘Sammakka, Saralamma Jatara’ Concludes

WARANGAL: The four-day 'Sammakka Saralamma jatara', a mega religious congregation of tribals, concluded at Medaram village in Telangana on Saturday.

The event, attended by an estimated 1.5 crore people, including non-tribals, concluded with the deities, Sammakka and Saralamma returning to the forests on Saturday evening as per tradition. Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and a number of other dignitaries offered prayers to the deities during the jatara.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda visited Medaram on Saturday and offered worship to the deities. Talking to reporters, Munda assured that the representation made by Telangana ministers to accord national status to the jatara would be considered. He said he will take the matter to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Telangana government and the state police had made elaborate arrangements to conduct the jatara smoothly.

A release from Telangana DGP office on Saturday said Artificial Intelligence was successfully executed by police for prevention of any untoward incidents at the jatara.

"Artificial Intelligence technology used by the Telangana State Police, for the first time in India, was successfully executed in prevention of any untoward, undesirable incidents at the Medaram Jatara, where approximately one and half crore devotees visited the event, it said. The 'jatara' has been declared as a state festival by the Telangana government.

As per folklore, the festival commemorates the fight of Sammakka and Saralamma against the oppression of Kakatiya rulers. (PTI)

Also Read: Photos: Medaram Sammakka Saralamma Jatara 2020