Nagobha Jatara

Nagoba Jatara is a tribal festival held in January/February in Keslapur village, Adilabad district, Telangana, India. The second biggest tribal festival in India is celebrated for 10 days by the Mesaram clan of Gond tribes. People of the Mesaram clan hailing from Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh gather to offer their prayers to the Nagoba idol at the temple. The festival starts during the Pushya Masam of the Hindu lunar calendar.  The chief deity at the festival is the ‘Nagoba’ (Sri Shek – Cobra). During the festival, the elder members of the clan fetch water from the Godavari River in Jannaram Mandal, 70 km away from the village, and keep it under the holy banyan tree.

 The Jatara includes ‘Bheting’ ceremony, where new brides are introduced into the clan. New brides come in possession wearing white saris and are led by the elder women to worship the Nagoba, after which they are recognized as a full-fledged member of the clan. The pilgrims arrive in the decorated bullock carts making it a sight to behold. The pilgrims from far-off places camp under the holy banyan tree and move into the temple premises on Sunday to perform various religious activities over the next five days. Women will participate mainly in the rituals associated with invoking the serpent God ‘Nagoba’. They will fetch water in sacred pots from an old well near the village and mix it with the holy water from the Godavari to purify the sanctum sanctorum of Nagoba temple.

--> Nagoba Jatara is a tribal festival held in January/February in Keslapur village, Adilabad district, Telangana, India. The second biggest tribal festival in India is celebrated for 10 days by the Mesaram clan of Gond tribes. People of the Mesaram clan hailing from Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh gather to offer their prayers to the Nagoba idol at the temple. The festival starts during the Pushya Masam of the Hindu lunar calendar.  The chief deity at the festival is the ‘Nagoba’ (Sri Shek – Cobra). During the festival, the elder members of the clan fetch water from the Godavari River in Jannaram Mandal, 70 km away from the village, and keep it under the holy banyan tree. The Jatara includes ‘Bheting’ ceremony, where new brides are introduced into the clan. New brides come in possession wearing white saris and are led by the elder women to worship the Nagoba, after which they are recognized as a full-fledged member of the clan. The pilgrims arrive in the decorated bullock carts making it a sight to behold. The pilgrims from far-off places camp under the holy banyan tree and move into the temple premises on Sunday to perform various religious activities over the next five days. Women will participate mainly in the rituals associated with invoking the serpent God ‘Nagoba’. They will fetch water in sacred pots from an old well near the village and mix it with the holy water from the Godavari to purify the sanctum sanctorum of Nagoba temple.