All roads led to Barashahid Dargah on the banks of the Swarnala Cheruvu here as the five-day Rottela Panduga (bread festival) began on a grand note amid religious fervour coinciding with Muharrum.
After having missed the festival for two years due to COVID-induced restrictions, people from across the State and also from neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana came in huge numbers and exchanged rotis with fellow believers in the Swarala Cheruvu on the first day of the first month of the Islamic calendar.
They later offered prayers at the Dargah to seek the blessings of the 12 martyred warriors in whose memory Urs is being celebrated. The Urs, in memory of the 12 warriors who died in a battle with the British troops in the 18th century, stands as a symbol of communal amity with devotees cutting across religious lines making a beeline to the Dargah over a period.
