The Medaram Jatara reached its frenzied crescendo on the full moon night.
But even as the devotees thronged the gadde in the small village to mark a medieval war, the corpus of historical information about the festival remains patchy.
“There is very little information about the war which led to the retreat of the tribes into the forest. But biographical evidence suggests that the war happened during the period of Rudradeva-I (1158-1195 AD) and not during Pratap Rudra’s time,” says historian S. Haragopal who has been doing extensive research on Telangana’s history.
In the absence of epigraphical evidence, Mr Haragopal uses biographical information. “Rudradeva forcibly married Padmavati, sister of a local chieftain, despite being married to Rajyalakshmi. He wanted to marry Medaraju’s daughter Samakka when the king rebelled and he and his daughter disappeared into the jungles,” says Mr. Haragopal suggesting a pattern on the part of Rudradeva.
The collection of tribute might not be the only factor as the Kakatiya kingdom was expanding into the regions which were the strongholds of the tribal people. “Rudradeva expanded the reach of the kingdom. This war might have been one of the reasons for the same,” says Mr. Haragopal.
Over the years, backed by government support and an outpouring of devotion, the Medaram Jatara has become one of the biggest regional festivals in Telangana. It is drawing devotees from other States, including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. While earlier it was just a tribal festival, now, people from a cross-section of the society make a beeline to visit the gadde of Samakka and Saralamma and have a bath in the Jampanna Vagu.
But the oral history differs with the devotees from Khammam believing in one narration while the tribals inhabiting the region of Medaram have a different story to tell.
The most widely held belief is that the Koya tribes accepted the overlordship of Kakatiyas. But when the region was struck with a famine, they refused to pay tribute leading to the attack by the Kakatiya rulers led by Prataparudra in which most of the elite tribal soldiers were killed or were forced to retreat into the forests.
As the festival is celebrated biennially, the COVID-19 pandemic had little impact on the celebrations. In February 2020, there were no cases in India, and two years later, the third wave of COVID-19 is on the wane and is officially over in Telangana. Interestingly, while the State goes all out to create amenities for the devotees, the income at Medaram exceeds the expenditure incurred by the State.
