3 October 2024
Telangana Regional holiday | Thursday |
Bathukama is a nine-day festival celebrated in Telangana, India. This first day of Bathukama is a regional holiday and the celebrations end on Durgaastmi, two days before Dussehra. This traditional festival has many stories relating to its origination. The most popular one is about King Dharmangada. Dharmangada was a Chola Dynasty King who used to rule South India. His rule came at a high cost, he and his wife had a hundred sons who all died in battle. The King and his wife prayed to the Goddess Lakshmi for one more child. Lakshmi answered the prayers and they were blessed with a baby daughter, who they named Lakshmi. This is the reason for the name Bathukamma, which means Mother Goddess come alive. The baby girl liked flowers, which is why Bathukamma is celebrated with flowers, many of which have various health benefits.
The festival is also dedicated to Goddess Parvati as it is believed that the Goddess Sati returned as Goddess Parvati on Bathukamma. The first day of Bathukamma falls at the end of the monsoon season when the flowers are in full bloom, this a spectacular and colourful floral festival. During the festival, beautiful flower stacks are arranged in seven concentric layers in the shape of a temple. Commonly used flowers are Celosia, Senna, Marigold, Lotus, Cucurbita and Cucumis. Earlier, only the flowers are grown in forest and locally were used in celebrations, nowadays even the exported ones are used. Women come together and sing Bathukamma songs. The songs are usually stories related to females with subjects such as sisterhood, the pains of women, mothers-in-law, pregnancy and so on. It is a beautiful, vibrant and very indigenous festival of Telangana. It also marks the starting of the festive season in the state.