The most important tribal festival celebrated commemorating the centuries-old relations between rulers of plains and hills: Modamamba festival (May) | Andhra Pradesh

Historic:Malagangu padalu at Pata Paderu in Visakhapatnam district worshipped during the Modamamba festival next month. —Photo: By Arrangement
Historic:Malagangu padalu at Pata Paderu in Visakhapatnam district worshipped during the Modamamba festival next month. —Photo: By Arrangement

G V Prasada Sarma, The Hindu, Visakhapatnam, April 26 | To read the full article, click here >>

Modamamba festival is the most important tribal festival celebrated commemorating the centuries-old relations between rulers of plains (Vaddadi) and hills (Nandapuram, presently near Jeypore of Orissa) hills, and the marriage of Moda Kondamma’s son Sanjiva Raju, bringing people together.

Moda Kondamma Padalu and temple of her son, Sanjiva Raju, are situated at Minumuluru in the Agency area and the annual festival is celebrated on May 8, 9 and 10 where a large number of tribal people congregate. The padalu of Malagangu at Pata Paderu is also worshipped.

“At the festival, a song narrating the marital relations between Nandapuram and Vaddadi ruling families in 14-15th centuries, the subsequent rejection of a Vaddadi ruler to allow his daughters to marry princes of Nandapuram and their ‘Gandharva vivaham’ [*] is narrated. The Vaddadi ruler humiliates his sons-in-law resulting in their suicide. Moda Kondamma is pregnant by then. Later, her son Sanjiva Raju’s marriage is performed with Malagangu overcoming the caste and other restrictions after the intervention of Nanadapuram queen,” says P. Sivaramakrisha, Director of Search for Action and Tribal Initiative (SAKTI).

There is historic evidence that there were relations between the ruling families of Vadadi and Nandapuram, he said. The Nandapuram rulers were one of the first to donate liberally to the Simhachalam temple.

The legend of Moda Kondamma and her son Sanjiva Raju used to be sung at the Modamamba festival until a few decades ago nurturing folk traditions, said Dr. Sivaramakrishna, who did his doctorate on “Tribal knowledge systems” in 1982. The rendering of the song used to run for five, six hours with women taking their cue from one another and singing it.

But of late, the festival has turned into a big event with the construction of Modamaba temple at Paderu. Dance programmes and cricket tournaments are being organised.

To revive the folk tradition, Dr. Sivaramakrishna and a school principal of Paderu, Varaha Murthy, converted the song into a ballet. It runs for about 40 minutes. […]

Source: Moda Kondamma song turns into ballet – The Hindu
Address: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/moda-kondamma-song-turns-into-ballet/article8522349.ece
Date Visited: Sat Dec 03 2016 11:29:22 GMT+0100 (CET)

* Gandharva vivaham: Gandharva marriage – Wikipedia Gandharva marriage | To read the full article, click here >>

A Gandharva Marriage (Sanskrit: गन्धर्व विवाह, pronounced gənd̪ʱərvə vɪvaːhə) is one of the eight classical types of Hindu marriage. This ancient marriage tradition from the Indian subcontinent was based on mutual attraction between two individuals of not necessarily opposite genders, with no rituals, witnesses or family participation.[1] The marriage of Dushyanta and Shakuntala [Sakuntala] was a historically celebrated example of this class of marriage.[2] […]

The Smritis of Hinduism recognize eight methods of marriage, one of them being Gandharva marriage. The other seven are: Brahma, Daiva, Arsa, Prajapatya, Asura, Raksasa and Paisacha.

In Rig vedic opinions and classical literature, the commonly described marriage method was Gandharva, where the bride and the groom had met each other in their ordinary village life, or in various other places such as regional festivals and fairs, begun to enjoy one another’s company, and decided to be together. This free choice and mutual attraction were generally approved by their kinsmen. […]

There is no consensus theory to explain why Gandharva marriages declined. […]

With the arrival of Muslim culture and rulers, which itself favored child marriages, the Hindu culture too shifted to child marriages where the girl was not mature. This practice eliminated the girl’s desire or ability to seek men on her accord, meet them, choose and enter into Gandharva marriage.[13][14] In addition to the influence of foreign conquest, claims Pandey, Hindu ideology shifted from diversity of marriage types to where the social pressures compelled the girl’s family to seek arranged early marriages. Yet another theory is that the priestly caste of India, who officiated Brahma marriages and religious ceremonies, over time crafted rules that declared Gandharva marriage for most Hindus as inappropriate and disapproved (aprasasta), because traditional marriages were a source of their income, and Gandharva marriages made them poorer or obsolete.[15] […]

Source: Gandharva marriage – Wikipedia
Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandharva_marriage
Date Visited: Sat Dec 03 2016 12:10:44 GMT+0100 (CET)

[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]

Published on Jan 12, 2016
‘Sankranti Sambaraalu’ paderu dimsa dance at hukumpeta

Source: paderu ‘Sankranti Sambaraalu’ dimsa dance at hukumpeta – YouTube
Address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZR1uJ1iazo&list=PLzdZd58fqqOykaNA7mrdL6TFS4ionnExH&index=2
Date Visited: Sat Dec 03 2016 12:30:19 GMT+0100 (CET)

Search for Action and Tribal Initiative (SAKTI).

Sh. P. Sivaramakrishna, SAKTI (Search For Action and Knowledge of Tribal Initiative), 305 & 308, Ist Block, Janapriya Abodes, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad-500 080.

Source: Microsoft Word – Document3 – tsp08-09.pdf
Address: http://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/tsp08-09.pdf
Date Visited: Sat Dec 03 2016 12:27:35 GMT+0100 (CET)

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