Sankranti celebrated with gaiety

Hyderabad, Jan 15: The three-day Sankranti festival which began on Wednesday with Bhogi, was celebrated with gaiety and traditional fervour across Andhra Pradesh. The three-day festival concluded on Friday with people feasting on sweetmeats and delicious meals. Kanuma which falls on the last day of three-day festival is dedicated to cows, bulls.Towns and villages in Andhra Pradesh wore a festive look with colourful kites, rangolis, decorated bulls and cock fights.

'Haridasus' and 'Basvannas', uniquely attired alm-seekers with ornately decorated oxen, made rounds of the villages to seek alms. The farmers also decorated bullocks and worshiped them for their contribution to the harvest.Thousands of people from Hyderabad joined their near and dear ones in the towns and villages in the celebrations. Authorities ran special buses and trains to clear the festival rush from Hyderabad to Coastal Andhra region.Kites dotted the sky in the villages and towns of Andhra Pradesh.

Kite traders made a fast buck as flyers thronged the shops to buy kites and 'manja' (a specially made thread). The rising prices also had its impact on kite flying.Despite  the ban on cock-fights, people in the countryside enjoyed the thrill  of traditional cock-fights in parts of Coastal Andhra.