Over 3 lakh devotees from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also took part in the festival

Kuppam town turned bloody on Tuesday as over a lakh animals were sacrificed on the occasion of Tirupati Gangamamba Jatara.

Hens, goats and milch animals that have stopped yielding milk were among those sacrificed.

Over 3 lakh devotees from all over the Kuppam division and neighbouring States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu took part in the procession of the head of Goddess Shakti through the streets of the town.

The procession began from the local temple around 7 a.m. A fire engine was deployed to clean the bloody roads.

Devotees had put up shamianas on the outskirts of the town. Revellers consumed liquor and cooked the meat.

The procession will pass through all the streets, and culminate at the temple on Wednesday morning.

Over 30 devotees sustained burns during the “Agni gundam” ritual (walking on the fire embers) as part of the Jatara on Monday midnight. Four of them were shifted to Bangalore. Over 500 police personnel were deployed for security for the jatara.