One person has died and more than 80 others were injured during the stick-fighting ritual at the Devaragattu Banni festival in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh early Thursday, with five of the injured reported to be in critical condition. The deceased was identified as Potharaju, 50, from Alur taluk in Karnataka’s Ballari district.
The injured were admitted to hospitals in the surrounding area. Some suffered serious injuries, and police sources said the death toll could rise. The incident occurred at Devaragattu village, near the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border, during the annual Banni festival associated with the Malleshwara Swamy and Malamma deities.
The wedding ceremony of Malleshwara Swamy and Malamma took place around midnight on Wednesday. The stick-fighting ritual began in the early hours of Thursday when the idols were carried in a procession along the main street. Groups from different villages competed to take the festival idols to their respective villages, resulting in clashes with wooden sticks.
The ritual is a recurring feature of the Vijayadashami celebrations at Devaragattu. After the ceremony, the idols are taken in procession to locations including Padyagattu, Rakshasapada, the Shami tree and the Uttubasavana temple. Clashes involving sticks and the throwing of flaming torches are reported during this movement.
According to local resident Raghuram Reddy, villagers from Neraniki, Neraniki Thanda and Kothapeta formed one group, while residents of Arikera, Suluvayi, Yellarthi, Bilehal, Nitravathi and Alur were part of the other. The groups try to take the festival idols to their villages, and the confrontation with sticks is treated as part of the ritual.
The scale of the casualties has raised immediate questions about how public safety is managed during a ceremony in which physical confrontation is an established element. Kurnool district police deploy a large security force each year to reduce the risk of injuries. This year, 1,000 police personnel, 100 closed-circuit cameras and 10 drones were used for surveillance and crowd management.
Despite that deployment, the event resulted in a fatality and mass injuries. The available report does not specify whether arrests were made, whether the procession was halted, or what additional measures authorities plan to take after the incident. It also does not provide details of the hospitals treating the injured or the identities of those in critical condition.
The immediate official focus remains on medical treatment for the injured and monitoring the situation as authorities assess the casualties. Further action will depend on the police and district administration’s response to the deaths and injuries during the festival procession.
