Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Gangamma deity pulled down, folk fest ends

TIRUPATI: ‘Ganga Jatara’, the annual folk festival of Tirupati, came to a grand close in the wee hours of Wednesday with the priests smashing the mammoth clay idol of the goddess. Thousands of euphoric devotees converged at the crammed temple premises to witness the incident.

It is a tradition to erect the huge earthen idol in front of the temple on the final night and demolish it before sunrise after the mandatory rituals. The deity’s eye balls are deliberately made to look sideways as the focused vision of the goddess at a certain point is feared to cause havoc.

The eyeballs are moved to look straight for just a second, which is called ‘Viswaroopa Darshan’, following which the deity is demolished and the clay pieces thrown on all sides by the hereditary priests of a particular lineage hailing from the Viswa Brahmin community.

The waiting devotees then lunged forward for the clay smithereens, while ‘possessed’ women screamed and rocked their heads to and fro in devotional ecstasy.

Many consume the clay by mixing it in water as it is believed to rid one of ills and misfortune, while some preserve it in their almirahs and lockers.

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