The Devaragattu Banni Utsavam, a revered ancient festival held annually in the Holagunda mandal of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, tragically turned violent on Thursday night (October 2, 2025). The festive gathering, which typically draws over 2 lakh devotees from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka, spiraled into chaos, leaving two individuals dead and more than a hundred injured.
What began as a solemn devotional ritual on the auspicious night of Vijayadashami quickly escalated into a scene of mayhem. Instead of the customary symbolic clash of sticks, participants from two rival factions engaged in outright violence, shattering the peaceful atmosphere and plunging the event into tragedy. Authorities reported that at least five of the injured are in critical condition and have been admitted to the Government General Hospital in Adoni.
The festival’s central event, the traditional celestial wedding of Mallamma and Malleshwara Swamy—the revered deities of the hill shrine—had commenced late in the evening, followed by the sacred procession of their idols. According to deeply held local legends, this fervent mass celebration traditionally commemorates the deities’ triumph over demons.
As the idol procession wound its way through the rural landscape, the two opposing groups, allegedly armed with heavy bamboo sticks and even pestles, joined the procession. Their intent, however, was not devotion but a fierce, violent assault on each other, each side aggressively vying to seize control of the deities’ idols. As midnight approached, the scene devolved into utter pandemonium. In the ensuing darkness, the groups engaged in brutal clashes, with eyewitnesses describing hundreds of devotees collapsing. Women and children, terrified, fled desperately for safety into nearby fields and dense thickets.
Despite a significant police presence of over 700 personnel deployed for security, the situation quickly deteriorated beyond the symbolic “sticks fight” into a full-blown exchange of blows and stone-pelting between the rival factions. Realizing the gravity of the escalating law and order crisis, police authorities swiftly dispatched additional forces from Nandyal and Kurnool, eventually managing to bring the volatile situation under control.
Following the incident, Collector A. Siri and Superintendent of Police Vikrant Patil immediately rushed to the site to assess the situation. Medical teams were promptly mobilized and deployed to provide urgent care and treatment to the numerous injured devotees.