Nellore(AP): The city of Nellore is beaming with celebratory hues these days with the Barashahid Dargah festival or bread festival being celebrated in its full glory. Not just Nellore, the Dargahs all across the state are crowded with people keen on celebrating the festival. The devotees typically celebrate this festival by visiting the graves of the Barashahids to offer prayers and exchange bread in the spirit of noble deeds.
With the exchange of food as the main motive of this festival, many people resort to several other ways of celebration. While some of them resort to flavourful feasts, some others use gold as a means of prayer. There are also some devotees who travel to the dargahs from far away, chanting religious words along their way. Some row boats while chanting prayers loudly enough to declare their celebration in the Swarnala lake.
Other than people celebrating the festival on an individual level, many charitable organisations also donate food to the devotees as a part of this festival. Film actor Sonu Sood also organized a food donation program for devotees. More and more people are seen taking part in this festival every year, irrespective of the religion they follow.
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It is a popular belief about this festival that in order to fulfil all of one's wishes, one has to also eat the food that is exchanged and not just give the food away as a part of the good deed. Another belief demands for the devotees to essentially come back and participate in the festival if a wish made earlier is fulfilled.
A popular venue for the celebrations of this festival, the Swarnala Lake is facilitated with all the availabilities that the devotees might need. Special rooms for changing clothes after bathing and drinking water stations have been set up at many places on the Dargah premises. Security is being monitored with the help of CCTV cameras and drones in the surrounding areas of the Dargah. Along with the local police, additional police forces from Guntur and Prakasam districts have been brought in. A total of two thousand police personnel have been deployed for the security arrangements here.
