The beginning of the biennial Samakka-Sarakka jatara in neighbouring Warangal district’s Medaram village, and parallel mini-jataras in Karimnagar district from Wednesday, demand for jaggery, the main offering to the deity, has risen phenomenally, and so have their prices.
While sales rose from 100 tonnes a day at the start of the month to 200 tonnes, on Wednesday the prices more than doubled from Rs.26 to Rs.70 a kilogram at Karimnagar’s Gunj business area.
As it is a tradition for devotees at the Samakka-Sarakka jatara to offer jaggery in quantities equal to their weight as thulabaram , they were forced to shell out huge amount.
According to tradition, a portion of the jaggery is placed at the altar, and the remainder is later distributed to relatives, friends and others as prasadam .
Asked about the shortage of the jaggery and escalation of the price, a trader said that they had not anticipated such demand.
“Whatever stocks we bought have been sold and we are not hoarding any stocks,” a trader said.
Due to shortage of stocks on Wednesday, some shops had increased prices, adding that they would stabilise from Thursday with the arrival of fresh stocks.
