The state of Telangana is home to many exquisite traditions and culture related to local folklore and festivals. One such moment of celebration which happens every year, culminating in Dasara is Bathukamma. It can be described truly as a colourful floral festival, celebrated by women of the state, with flowers growing widely in the region.

History

According to Hindu religious scholars, once there lived a King called Dharmangada of Chola Dynasty who largely ruled over South India. The Queen gave birth to a girl child after several years of rituals and prayers. She was called Princess Lakshmi. Baby Lakshmi was believed to have survived many unforeseen accidents in her life during her upbringing. The parents faced life and death experience while bringing up their only child. Later they called her Bathukamma. In Telugu language, Bathuku means life while Amma means female life form or mother.

From then, Telangana women are believed to have been celebrating the Bathukamma festival. The main objective of this particular festival is to offer prayers with devotion to the Goddess with a hope that young girls receive the boon of marital bliss. Married women and relatives also celebrate this festival where they offer prayers to the Goddess for prosperity and overall health of their families.

The men folk and other family members, relatives as well as friends become involved in gathering flowers, followed by arrangements of a beautiful flower stack as part of the festival season. Bathukamma festival also has many myths behind the festivity. There is one myth regarding Goddess Gauri who killed a fierce demon called ‘Mahishasura’. After this serious incident, she reportedly went into deep sleep because of fatigue on ‘Aswayuja Padyami’ day. As a result, Hindu devotees offered prayers with devotion and dedication so that she would wake up. She is later believed to have woken up on Dasami day.

Bathukamma Festivities

The festival is considered a glorious symbol of Telangana’s cultural identity. Bathukamma festivities come during the latter half of monsoon, before the onset of winter. The monsoon rains usually brings plenty of water into the fresh water ponds and it is also the time when wild flowers bloom across the region. The flowers which grow widely are the 'gunukapoolu' and 'tangedipoolu'. Banti, Chemanti, Nandi-vardhanam, Moduga etc. Bathukamma is celebrated by the women folk of Telangana, representing the beauty and bounty of nature in the form 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 make small 'Batukammas' for nine days and play around them every evening and immerse them in a nearby water pond. On the last day, the men of the household go into the wild plains and gather flowers like gunuka and tangedi. Large quantity of these flowers are used for creating a big Bathukamma, where the flowers are arranged carefully row after row in a brass plate in circular rows and in alternating colors.

The women folk dress colourfully in the evening with the best of their attire and ornaments and place this grand Bathukamma in their courtyard. The women from neighbouring households also gather in a large circle and sing hymns and songs by circling it repeatedly, building a beautiful human circle of unity and sisterhood. 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 playing and singing. Then they share the 'maleeda',a dessert made with sugar or raw sugar and distribute it amongst the family members and friends.

Bathukamma celebrates the inherent relationship between earth, water and the mankind. During the entire preceding week, women make 'boddemma' (a deity of Gowri – mother Durga – made with earthly mud) along with Bathukamma and then immerse it in the pond. This helps reinforce the ponds and helps it retain more water. The flowers used in Bathukamma have a great quality of purifying water and such flowers when immersed in abundance have the effect of cleansing the lake water and making the environment clean. The festival heralds the beauty of nature and the collective spirit of women in Telangana.

Bathukamma App!

Telangana Tourism has now combined the attributes of modern technology to celebrate the festival. Bathukamma App, a novel initiative of Telangana Tourism is a one-of-its-kind app which represents a completely unique way of connecting the exquisite traditions of Telangana through latest technology. The app can be downloaded on play store easily followed by hassle-free navigation and operation. Users can explore the various cultural activities being organized as part of Bathukamma festivities in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana through this app and also take part in the contests. One can enjoy a glimpse of the various dishes and the recipes that are made exclusively as offering to the Goddess. Through this app, you can even explore the significance of each variety of flowers which are used for creating the floral wonder, representing the true spirit of this festival.