Page 59 - Mann Ki Baat English JULY 2022

Medaram Jatara: Asia’s

Biggest Tribal Fair

Medaram Jatara, also
known as Sammakka-
Saralamma Jatara, is
the most popular tribal
festival of Telangana.
Asia’s biggest tribal fair,
Medaram Jatara is also
known as Mahakumbh of
Telangana. This biennial
festival is organised by
Koya tribe in a little forest
village called Medaram.
The four-day long
fair is organised in
the month of Magha
when the goddesses
Sammakka and her daughter a quantity equal to their weight
goddess Saralamma are to the goddesses and take holy
believed to visit the tribals. The bath in Jampanna Vagu.
fair commemorates the fight of The team of Doordarshan,
the goddesses with the reigning talked to Shri T. Rajendram,
rulers against an unjust law. The Executive Officer, Medaram Jatara
legend says that the Kakatiya king to know more about the fair:
imposed unjust taxes on the Koya “Medaram Jatara has been
th
tribe. Goddess Sammakka, her in vogue since the 12 century,
daughter Goddess Saralamma from the times of Kakatiya rule. It
and her son Jampanna picked up is celebrated for four days from
the fight and killed the unjust king. Wednesday to Saturday before
Saralamma died during the battle Magha Suddha Purnami in the
and Jampanna was mortally month of February. The Jatara
wounded and fell bleeding into was declared a state festival in
Sampangi vagu (a tributary to 1994 and since then it has been
River Godavari). It is believed that celebrated on a grand note.
the stream turned red from the Devotees not only from Telangana
blood and the vagu was renamed and neighbouring states –
Jampanna Vagu in the honour of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,
Jampanna’s sacrifice. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha but also
The Medaram Jatara is from other parts of the country
attended by approximately 10 come to the fair. This year, nearly
million people from across the one Crore and fifty lakh devotees
world. Devotees offer jaggery of visited the Jatara.”

55
55