Bathukamma

Introduction

Bathukamma is Telangana's own festival of flowers, life and womanhood, and the state festival of Telangana. For nine days – from Engili Pula Bathukamma on Mahalaya Amavasya to Saddula Bathukamma on Durgashtami – women and girls gather each evening with beautiful conical stacks of seasonal flowers, place a small image of Gauramma (Goddess Gauri, shaped from turmeric) on top, and sing and dance around them in circles. The festival arrives at the end of the monsoon, when the fields are green and the tanks and lakes are full, and wildflowers bloom everywhere. It is celebrated during the same days as Dasara and Devi Navaratri.

Significance and Legend

The name is usually understood as "Bathuku, Amma" – "come alive, O Mother" – a prayer for life, health and well-being. Bathukamma is, above all, a celebration of the Mother Goddess as Gauri, of nature's gifts, and of the strength and togetherness of women. According to tradition, several stories are told about its origin: some remember it as a festival to console and honour Goddess Gauri; others link it to Goddess Durga's nine-day battle that ends in victory on Vijayadashami; and a folk story tells of a girl named Bathukamma who was blessed with long life. All of them share one spirit – a heartfelt prayer that life may flourish.

The Nine Days

Each day has its own name and its own simple naivedyam:

• Day 1 – Engili Pula Bathukamma: the festival begins on Mahalaya Amavasya; offerings made with sesame, rice flour or broken rice.
• Day 2 – Atkula Bathukamma: offerings of flattened rice (atukulu), lentils and jaggery.
• Day 3 – Muddapappu Bathukamma: soft-cooked lentils with milk and jaggery.
• Day 4 – Nanabiyyam Bathukamma: soaked rice with milk and jaggery.
• Day 5 – Atla Bathukamma: small pancakes (atlu).
• Day 6 – Aligina Bathukamma: by tradition, a day of rest – no Bathukamma is played and no naivedyam is offered.
• Day 7 – Vepakayala Bathukamma: small fried sweets shaped like neem fruits.
• Day 8 – Vennamuddala Bathukamma: sesame, butter or ghee, and jaggery.
• Day 9 – Saddula Bathukamma: the grand final day, also called Pedda Bathukamma, with the largest Bathukammas of all.

How it is Celebrated

• Gathering flowers: families – often the brothers and fathers – go out to collect seasonal flowers such as tangedu (yellow senna), gunugu (celosia), marigold, chrysanthemum, pumpkin flowers and lotus. Many of these flowers are valued for their medicinal properties.
• Stacking the Bathukamma: on a wide brass plate (thambalam), the flowers are arranged in circular layers, rising like a temple tower, often in seven tiers. Gunugu flowers are dyed in bright colours, and Gauramma is placed at the top.
• Songs and dance: in the evening, women in their finest sarees and girls in langa-voni (half-sarees) place their Bathukammas in the centre of a courtyard or open ground and circle them, clapping in rhythm and singing traditional folk songs with refrains such as "Bathukamma Bathukamma uyyalo". The songs speak of the Goddess, of family, of the village and of everyday life.
• Daughters come home: married daughters traditionally return to their parents' homes for the festival, making it a time of family reunion.
• Immersion: after the singing, the Bathukammas are carried in procession to a tank, lake or pond and gently laid into the water with songs of farewell, asking the Mother to come again next year.

Rituals and Puja

• Each evening, Gauramma is worshipped with turmeric, kumkum and flowers before the singing begins, and the day's naivedyam is offered.
• On Saddula Bathukamma, after the immersion, married women apply a little of the turmeric from Gauramma to their mangalasutra, praying for the well-being of their families.
• The women then share the food they have brought with one another – a gesture of sisterhood and goodwill.

Foods and Offerings

• Saddulu: on the final day, families prepare several kinds of rice – such as curd rice, tamarind rice, lemon rice, coconut rice and sesame rice – which give Saddula Bathukamma its name.
• Malida: a sweet of crushed roti mixed with jaggery, shared on Saddula Bathukamma.
• The simple daily naivedyams of sesame, jaggery, lentils, rice and milk, listed for each of the nine days above.

Temples Known for this Festival

Bathukamma is celebrated mainly in homes, neighbourhoods, village squares and beside tanks and lakes, rather than inside temples. One temple on this site is closely connected with it:

• Thousand Pillar Temple, Hanamkonda – the grounds of this Kakatiya temple are a much-loved venue for Bathukamma, and the state's Bathukamma celebrations have been inaugurated here, with large gatherings of women and their Bathukammas.

The Bathukamma dates are shown in the festival dates above. The festival begins on Mahalaya Amavasya and ends on Durgashtami as per the Telugu panchang; where a date is not yet listed, please follow the panchang for that year.