KAKATEEYA KINGDOM AT WARANGAL WAS LOST TO MUSLIMS BY A CURSE FROM SAMMAKKA SARAKKA… A LEGEND

              KAKATEEYA KINGDOM  AT WARANGAL WAS LOST TO MUSLIMS              

                     BY  A CURSE FROM  SAMMAKKA SARAKKA… A LEGEND

                                        Dr K Prabhakar Rao

                    A great festival ( Jathara) is held every two years for three days before Magha Purimaat Medaram in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh with   great pomp and show. This is the biggest Girijan festival held here. Medaram is a small village in the forest. Sammakka is a tribal goddess and the patrons and the priests are Koyas (A caste in tribals). All the tribals from Maharastra, Madhyapradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgad, Jharkhand and the thousands of other Hindus congregate there during the celebrations. There is no permanent idol of the deity. This is the biggest congregation of devotees after Maha kumbh in North India as  7 million devotees attend the festival. The Medaram area is very backward and lacks basic facilities. Yet the festival is conducted after every two years with great gusto.

          As per legend    it is said that, once  nearly 700 years ago the tribal people of Medaram forest region went in to the deep forest for hunting. They saw a kid protected by cruel animals such as tigers and lions; they were all mesmerized with the child's magnificent presence and her glorious brightness. The tribal leaders (Koya doralu) adopted the child and brought her to the village. And the village has been shining with a lot of prosperity and happiness from the time when the kid came to this village. All the people in that village felt that, their God Kondadevara (tribal god) had reached them in the form of this child.The tribal elders named her as Sammakka. It is said that, she always rambled on tigers and lions and also gave her blessings to the child bearing couples. She cured number of tribals suffering from chronic deceases. These are the main reasons that made her become popular across the nearby villages. Sammakka was married to Pagididda Raju. He was the ruler of Medaram village and subordinate king of  Prathapa Rudra, Kakatiya Dynasty. They were blessed with a son (Jampanna) and two daughters (Sarakka and Nagulamma).
A  severe famine occurred for four consecutive years in the village. People were shattered due to this famine and they were unable to pay the taxes. Hence, Pagididda Raju refused to pay the tax to the Kakatiya rulers. Due to this ,Kakatiya king got angry and decided to wage war under the command of  his minister Yugandarudu. The tribal people having self-respect decided to get ready to war and they were not scared of the Kakatiya army having a large number of elephantine forces. Thousands of tribal heads were chopped and the blood flew like river from the battle ground, and mixed with Sampenga Vagu (a water passageway). The water in the Sampenga Vagu was contaminated with blood. In this battle, all the tribal and non-tribal people participated against Kakatiya forces. Sammakka's husband Pagididda Raju and Son in Law Govindaraju laid their victorious lives in this battle.Sarakka  her daughter was greviously wounded. After watching this massacre, Jampanna (son of Sammakka) sacrificed himself, by jumping in to the Sampenga Vagu, hence it is called as Jampanna Vagu. Despite hearing this shocking news, Sammakka didn't give up her courage, and attacked enemy forces protected by a breast plate and sword. Showing her divine powers she destroyed and terrorized the enemies. Kakatiya forces were surprised by the divine powers of Sammakka. Suddenly a boy came from behind and back stroked Sammakka. Sammakka turned back and raised her sword to kill, but she realized that it was a kid and put the sword down. Sammakka forgave the child and tied the wound with a cloth and moved away from the village towards east as she was aware that if her blood falls on the village land, the land will become barren and gives no fruit.Before she moved out after seeing the great massacre of her people, she cursed the Kakateeya dynasty that it would vanish soon.
After the battle, the tribe elders searched for Sammakka in the thick of the forest. They found a Kumkum Bharini (vermillion box), bangles apart from pug marks ofa tiger at a snake hole under the Naga Vruksham (Naga- snake, Vruksham- tree). Tribals believed that, Sammakka was found as vermillion. Thence, once in two years on the day of Magha Shudha Poornima, the tribal people celebrate a festival/fair in the honor of Sammakka and her daughter Sarakka, where they got the vermillion box.
          Prataparudra deva  was the Kaakteeya monarch at Warangal in 14 century and Muslims invaded Warangal several times first by the General Malik Kafur of Allauddin Khilji. Although they were repulsed, Prataparudra after  next invasion agreed to pay  tribute  to the Delhi sultan. After the fall of Khilji  sultans Prtaparudra stopped paying the tribute to Delhi and Mohammed Bin Tighlaq as a strict policy invaded Warangal but was repulsed by the valiant Kakateeya army. However in the  next invasion, Prataprdudra was defeated due to internal bickerings of his  Velama, Reddi and  Kapu chieftains and  He was captured. He committed suicide by jumping in river Narmada while he was being taken captive to Delhi. With this Kakateeya dynasty was extinguished. Warangal was named Sultanpur and was made a  province of  Muslim empire. The curse of Sammakka  became  a reality.