3 months ago
1
More than 2 lakh devotees from crossed the confederate States converged astatine Punganur municipality successful Annamayya territory to instrumentality portion successful the two-day yearly Suguturu Gangamma jatara, which concluded connected Wednesday amid fervent celebrations.
The festival, which falls betwixt Holi and Ugadi, attracted devotees from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra. The jatara continues to bask the patronage of the descendants of the erstwhile Punganur zamindars, galore of whom travelled from antithetic parts of the state to enactment successful the festivities and lend to its organisation.
Hundreds of families linked to the erstwhile zamindari lineage arrived successful the municipality connected invitations from their relatives, turning the lawsuit into a large yearly congregation. Officials from the municipal administration, police, gross section and Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited made elaborate arrangements to guarantee the creaseless behaviour of the celebrations.
Descendants of the zamindari family, Somashekar Chikkarayalu and Mallikarjuna Chikkarayalu, on with different section leaders, performed peculiar pujas to the presiding deity astatine the Gangamma temple located wrong the historical Zamindar Palace. The full municipality was illuminated with accepted decorative displays. A unsocial diagnostic of the festival is that the deity wrong the palace is opened for nationalist darshan lone erstwhile a twelvemonth during the jatara and remains closed to devotees for the remainder of the year.
According to humanities accounts, the Punganur zamindars migrated successful the precocious 15th period from Suguturu successful the Kolar portion of Karnataka and worshipped Goddess Gangamma arsenic their household deity. Devotees fulfilled their vows by carrying accepted Gerigalu vessels and offering prayers during the procession. The lawsuit besides witnessed large-scale carnal sacrifices, though nationalist show of the rituals was not permitted.
