The flag of the Koya family, which contains the genesis and history of the ancestors. | Photo credit: ARRANGEMENT
As millions of devotees flock to Medaram in the foothills of Chilkalgutta for three days for the jatara, some families carry old flags or as they are called ‘padaga’ or ‘dalugudda’ that are decades and even centuries old. As families plan and plan their visit to the spiritual heart of the Koya tribe, flags fly from large rental vehicles, carts and makeshift tents. Triangle shaped flags that tell the story of each family’s gatt or gotra.
“Now, the only flag makers are me and my brother. I have been doing this for the past 10 years. Other flag makers have left or stopped making them,” says Tholem Kalyan, whose brother Tholem Venkateswarlu has been making flags for the past 20 years from their family home in Aswapuram Mandal in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.
When the Telangana government was creating a redesigned space for the Samakka Saralamma platforms, it was these flags created by the two brothers that helped the sculptors carve the shapes. Symbols and shapes that range from the bull, geometric shapes, oversized people, elephants and other creatures large and small now find a place on gigantic stone pillars and arches.
“Flags are not just random pictures. When a family asks us to make a flag, we go and buy red cloth from Kothegudam. Each flag has more than 90 pictures. On an auspicious day, we start work by cutting out the shapes that each family’s story has. Then we sew them onto the flag, which takes up to three months,” informs Mr. Kalyan. While two brothers sew and create flags, more than 100 Koya families use the same flag to tell their family history.
“The history of the koya tribe is told by folk artists known as artikalakarlu. They use the flag, sing and tell the story to the assembled audience. This is how the oral history of the tribe is passed on,” says Jayadheer Tirumala Rao, an ethnographer whose collection of objects includes similar flags of unknown vintage.
The common element of all flags is snake, Hanuman, sun, moon and stars. As families gather and listen to folk artists recount the history of the clan, the next generation learns about the creation of the world from a cracked egg, the great battles of their ancestors, their own family, and the magical beings they share the world with.
Published – 28 Jan 2026 20:55 IST
