Bathukamma is described as a colourful and vibrant festival of Telangana. Bathukamma festival is celebrated by women, with flowers that grow exclusively in each region. This festival is considered a symbol of Telangana’s cultural identity.The festival comes during the end of monsoon, before the onset of winter.

The monsoon rains usually brings plenty of water into the fresh water ponds of Telangana and it is also the time when wild flowers bloom in various vibrant colors all across the un-cultivated and barren plains of the region. The most abundant of these are the 'gunukapoolu' and 'tangedipoolu'. There are other flowers too like the banti, chemanti, nandi-vardhanam etc. The 'shilpakkapandlu' (or 'sitpalapandlu') are another great attraction of these barren lands during this season. The custard apple is a great tasting fruit that grows in the wild with little or no water and is often called the poor man's apple. Then there is corn (jonna and mokkajonna) waiting to be harvested. Amidst these, Bathukamma is celebrated by the women folk of Telangana, heralding the beauty of nature in vibrant colors of multitudinous flowers.

The festival begins a week before the grand 'Saddula Bathukamma' (the grand finale of the Bathukamma festival) which falls two days before Dussehra. The women folk spend one whole week making small 'Bathukammas', and then play around them every evening and immerse them in a nearby water pond. Then the last day is considered the most fascinating.

On this day, the men folk of the household go into the wild plains and gather flowers like gunuka and tangedi. They bring home bagfuls of these flowers and the entire household sits down to make the big 'Bathukamma'. The flowers are carefully arranged row after row in a brass plate (called taambalam) in circular rows and in alternate colors. The Bathukamma grows in size and the bigger it is the better. The white gunuka flowers are colored using water paints and Bathukamma gets colorful circular layers of them along with tangedi in between. Then it placed in front of the deity at home and prayed.

As evening approaches the women folk dress colourfully with the best of their attire and adorn lot of ornaments and place the Bathukamma in their court yard. The women of neighbourhood also gather in a large circle around it. They start singing songs by circling it repeatedly, building a beautiful human circle of unity, love, sisterhood.

After playing in circles around the “Bathukammalu”, before the onset of dusk, the women folk carry them on their heads and move as a procession towards a bigger water body near the village or town. The procession is extremely colourful with the decorations of women and the “Bathukammalu”. Songs of folklore are sung in chorus throughout the procession and the streets resonate with them. Finally when they reach the water pond the “Bathukammalu” are slowly immersed into water accompanied by more playing and singing. Then they share the 'maleeda' (a dessert made with sugar or raw sugar and corn bread) sweets amongst the family members and neighborhood. They return to their homes with empty 'taambaalam' singing songs in praise of Bathukamma. The songs of Bathukamma echo in the streets until late night during the entire week.

The flowers used in Bathukamma have a great quality of purifying water and such flowers when immersed in abundance into the pond have the effect of cleansing the water and making the environment much better. In times where the fresh water ponds are gradually diminishing and dwindling away it is indeed a pride of Telangana that its womenfolk (with mostly agrarian background) inherently know how to make them better by celebrating the beauty of nature. It is something we can feel proud of. Even across the world, there are festivals that involve flowers and fresh water. There are river-based festivals known, but this one is definitely unique to Telangana. It serves multiple purposes; it heralds the beauty of nature, collective spirit of Telangana people, the indomitable spirit of women folk and also the scientific approach of the agrarian people towards preserving the resources of nature in a celebrative way. Hence, Bathukamma is considered the icon of cultural identity of Telangana.

Although Bathukamma is a mostly women oriented festival, in order to involve every single person in the festival “Bathukamma Prachara Rathams” are being created by important cultural organizations, depicting the cultural, historical and social aspects of different districts of Telangana region. Due to globalization and some unique conditions in Telangana region, the indigenous culture has been influenced largely for last few years. Hence, there is a need for Bathukamma to be revived and passed on to the future generations, which is now being done with great planning and approach by the Telangana government and the society.