Three-day Edupayala jatara

Nagsanpalli (Medak): The three day Edupayala jatara, the second biggest in Telangana region after Medaram Jatara, started here on Thursday with the hereditary trustee and Medak legislator P. Sasidhara Reddy offering ‘sari’ to goddess Vana Durga Bhavani. Devotees took bath in the Manjira River and the seven branches of it called as Edupayalu. The irrigation department released extra water into the Ghanapur Anicut in time for the festival.Other than the regular stalls that do business here all through the year hundreds of small shops opened up all over the hillocks. Shops selling cassettes, compact discs, bangles, sweets, coconuts and meat are doing roaring business as most of the devotees stay here for all the three days. They cook here and watch movies at the makeshift movie theatres.

The movies now showing include one of the most recent Telugu flicks. In addition to this the newly developed sanctum sanctorum built at a cost of Rs. 7 lakh has eased the congestion inside the temple and for the first time in hundreds of years the temple doors could be closed during the night time giving protection to the golden jewellery of the deity.

Speaking to The Hindu here on Thursday, the Medak legislator said that looking at the increasing numbers of devotees the temple development board has decided to develop the Edupayala area as a daily jatara. For this 20 guesthouses would be built at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore.

The guesthouses, which would be named after the Saptarushis, would be built on the banks of the Manjira.