Why is it in the news?
→ Telangana to host Sammakka–Saralamma (Medaram) Jatara from 28 January 2026 in Mulugu district.
Category: Misc
Important Points
- Three-day biennial tribal festival of Koya community held in the month of Magha (February).
- Recognised as one of world’s largest indigenous spiritual congregations; declared State Festival in 1996.
- Held in Dandakaranya forests within Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary on banks of Jampanna Vagu (Godavari tributary).
- Jampanna Vagu named after warrior Jampanna.
- Sammakka resisted Kakatiya rulers after famine and unjust taxation.
- Core belief based on kinship worship; no Vedic or Brahmanic influence.
- Devotees offer “bangaram” (jaggery equal to body weight) and take sacred dip in Jampanna Vagu.
- Goddesses symbolically brought from Chilakalagutta hill to Gadde once every two years.
- The festival reflects Adivasi cosmology, resistance and identity.