Stone-carved symbols bring tribal history to life as Medaram gears up for the jatara
MULUGU, DECEMBER 27, 2025: Even before the biennial Samakka-Sarakka, which would be conducted from January 28 to 31, 2026, in Medaram village of Tadwai mandal of Mulugu district, the devotees have started arriving at the shrine to offer prayers to avoid Asia’s largest congregation of devotees.
Accordingly, Mulugu Collector Diwakar TS visited the Medaram village on Saturday and inspected the ongoing developmental works and interacted with the officials and conducted a review meeting to ensure all facilities for the devotees visiting the shrine before the jatara. He informed the officials to construct the speedy completion of queue lines.
With the year-end and holidays, there would be a heavy influx of devotees, the Collector informed the officials to ensure that the authorities provide drinking water to the devotees in the queue lines. He also instructed the authorities to complete the construction of barricades around the newly constructed stone altars and the completion of flooring works in the temple. He also directed them to complete the central lighting system in the Medaram village.
It may be recalled that the state government has taken up works with an outlay of over Rs 250 crore to give the historic Adivasi place of worship a facelift that blends history, tribal faith and modern infrastructure, while respecting Adivasi customs and offering a completely new experience to devotees. Officials said the development works are almost complete, at least in the core area.
Utmost care has been taken in the design of the Sammakka, Saralamma, Govinda Raju and Pagididda Raju Gaddelu (altars). Symbols of bamboo, the Sonodi bird, the white horse representing tribal aristocracy, peacock, holy dots symbolising gotras and Adivasi dances have been inscribed on towering pillars carved out of single gigantic stones.
The stone installations narrate the legend through symbolic representations, with around 7,000 such symbols engraved across 31 stone installations in and around the sacred platforms.
90% of Gaddelu works at Medaram completed
The government sought the assistance of Dr Mypathi Arun Kumar, a research scholar from the Koya community who has extensively studied the history of Sammakka-Saralamma, in designing the artefacts.
The premises of the Sammakka-Saralamma sacred platforms are being developed into stone-based structures infused with devotion.
The symbols carved on the stones are drawn from Padangal, a sacred flag, and palm-leaf manuscripts, while the inscriptions depict lineage, genealogy, gotras and elements of nature.
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