Amid religious fervour, the symbolic form of the Adivasi goddess Saralamma was installed at the altar (gaddelu in local parlance) at 9.45 pm in the main Medaram temple complex on Wednesday night.
There were no untoward incidents despite the fact that an estimated 60 lakh pilgrims congregated at Medaram from different parts of the country on Wednesday.
This is in addition to the estimated 25 lakh pilgrims, who have already visited Medaram during the pre-Jatara period to avoid the heavy rush.
On the formal invitation from joint collector Ms Vakati Karuna, a group of Adivasi priests led by Saralamma temple chief priest Kaka Saraiah started the procession at around 6.55 pm from her ancestral village in Kannepalli, a distance of three kilometre from Medaram temple.
Lakhs of devotees lined up all along the route to offer vows before the procession reached the Jampannavagu, located at a distance of 1 km from Medaram temple for prayers.
In tribal folklore, Jampanna was the brother of tribal goddess Saralamma.
As per tradition, the symbolic form of Saralamma then was taken to Sammakka temple in the main complex, where the Adivasi priests performed prayers along with symbolic forms of Pagididdaraju (husband of Sammakka), Nagulamma (sister of Saralamma) and Jampanna (brother of Saralamma).
Earlier in the day, the symbolic form of Govindarajulu, the Adivasi deity Saralamma’s husband, was already brought amid fervour in a procession from the nearby Otai village in Eturunagaram mandal.
Throughout the day, cultural troupes from different parts of the state, kept the sea of devotees entertained by enacting episodes from the lives of Samakka-Saralamma.
It is pertinent to note that the district administration, which had spent Rs.60 crore to provide amenities to the pilgrims, had divided the Medaram fair site into 38 sectors, which are being manned by officials in three shifts in a day.
The police department had the maximum number of its personnel posted at Medaram with a record number of 8,800 police officers of various ranks roped in here for services.
As a precautionary measure, the district administration had kept an MI 17 helicopter of the BSF on standby besides using 40 CCTV cameras for surveillance and crowd management at the fair site.
A modern 50-bed hospital with 40 specialist doctors, 100 primary health centre doctors and 500 paramedics were also deputed for duties round the clock for pilgrims.