From Begging to Getting Punished by Priests, This Andhra Pradesh Temple is Full of Bizarre Traditions

A famous ‘jathara’ held one in every two years at the Koppavaram village the East Godavari district witnesses one of the most colourful events in the country, where devotees dress up and play the role of a beggar and donate money to goddess Sathemma Thalli to get her blessings.

The strange festival gets decked up as devotees across economic sections from nearby areas play roles of characters from Ramayana or Mahabharata among others. The village and its areas are noted for the traditions and cultures and jatharas (celebrations) when compared to the cities and towns elsewhere in India.

Everyone whether it is crorepati, lakhpati or semi-rich, a business person or a common man who seeks to get blessings from the Goddess has to beg and seek alms at the site here.

The tradition here is that the devotees will play strange and different roles for begging at the site the entire day and get alms. Later they present the same amount of money earned to their presiding deity in the Hundi of the temple. According to the beliefs of the people here, the goddess will not bless them to fulfil their aspirations if they offer their own money. The goddess, devotees say, gets anguished and cursed if they fail to seek alms and donate to the temple, the devotees believe.

The devotees believe strongly that the goddess will bless them for health and wealth only if they donate money after begging and not the money from their own pockets.

The festival of Jathara at this temple is conducted for three days and the devotees who come here beg for that time period to get alms from people. The  festival would begin with a tradition of bringing down a sword and pot from atop a building near the temple. Women in huge numbers carry the traditional “Sword and Pots” on their heads and seek blessings.

They indeed enthrall the people with their strange roles in awe. Myriad varieties of dressing in multiple coloured clothes, wearing headgears, and whatnot they do everything to attract the devotees and seek alms all through the day.

Some traditions are followed including the women pouring milk into an anthill near the tree and seeking blessings. Another tradition is to get punished by the temple pujari through a hunter. The devotees flock in huge numbers to be punished by the pujaris only to fulfil their aspirations and desires.

While at some jatharas people sacrifice sheep and goats to the gods and goddesses here at this temple the devotees raise them. At the anthill site, they pour milk and pass through a particular route to be punished by the pujaris.

The devotees believe that the Goddess showers divine blessings on them if they cause anger to the devotees and get beaten by hunters.

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