SAMMAKKA SARAKKA
WHY IN NEWS ?
- Recently, the Union cabinet approved a tribal university for Telangana – the Sarakka Central Tribal University, which will come up in Mulugu district at a cost of Rs 889 crore.
ABOUT SAMMAKKA SARAKKA:
- Sammakka is said to have been married to Pagididda Raju, a feudal chief of the Kakatiyas (a Deccan dynasty) who ruled the Warangal area.
- She had two daughters and one son – Sarakka or Saralamma, Nagulamma and Jampanna, respectively.
- In the battle against the local rulers in protest against the taxes, Saralamma died, while Sammakka disappeared into the hills and the local tribals believed that she metamorphosed into a vermillion casket.
ABOUT FESTIVE CONGREGATION :
- Sammakka Saralamma Jathara or Medaram Jathara is a tribal festival of honouring the goddesses celebrated in the state of Telangana, India.
- Mulugu holds a biennial festival – the Sammakka Saralamma Jatara – which is considered among the largest gatherings of tribal people in the world.
- The event commemorates the battle of the 13th-century mother-daughter duo against the local rulers in protest against the imposition of taxes on the Koya people.
- The Jatara (yatra, or pilgrimage) begins at Medaram, and the rituals are conducted by the Koya priests, in accordance with their customs and traditions.
- Until 1955, about 2,000 people used to visit Medaram, mostly from the Koya tribe.
- But down the line, it has assumed the form of a large Hindu religious festival, so much so that it is believed that after Kumbha Mela, the Sammakka Saralamma Jatara attracts the largest number of devotees in the country.
- In 2008, nearly 80 lakh people are estimated to have attended the festival, which went up to a crore in 2012.
- Considering the footfall of the festival, the Samakka-Sarakka Jathara was declared a state festival in 1996.
- Until 1998, the only way to reach Medaram, where the festival is held, was on a bullock cart.
- But in 1998, the state government (the undivided Andhra Pradesh at the time) constructed a motorable road.
- The Ministry of Tourism, as a part of the Tribal Circuit under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, sanctioned Rs. 75.88 crore for the integrated development of a tribal circuit of Mulugu-Laknavaram-Medavaram-Tadvai-Damaravi-Mallur-Bogatha Waterfalls where the temple of Sammakka-Sarakka is located.
SYLLABUS: PRELIMS ,CURRENT AFFAIRS
