Bathukamma

September 27, 2022

Bathukamma is being celebrated in Telangana from September 25 to October 3 this year.

Key facts

Bathukamma is observed as the state festival of Telangana since the state’s inception in 2014.
It is a flower festival celebrated mainly in Telangana and several parts of Andhra Pradesh.
This 9-day festival is celebrated based on Sathavahana calendar and it usually falls on September or October, during the latter half of monsoon, before the onset of winter.
This festival begins with Mahalaya Amavasya, also known as Engili Poola Bathukamma.
Bathukamma means ‘Goddess of Life’. It is a collection of flowers stacked one layer at a time and rising in a series of concentric circles like the gopuram in South Indian temples.
It is made using locally grown flowers like Gunugu puvvu (Celosia), Thangedu puvvulu (Cassia auriculata), Gummadi puvvulu (Cucurbita), Vaama puvvulu (Ajwain), Banthi puvvu (Marigold), Chamanthi puvvulu (Chrysanthemum) etc.
During the first seven days of this festival, women make symbolic images of Bodemma (Goddess Gauri) using clay and small Bathukammas.
The final day of this festival, called Saddula Bathukamma, involves the preparation of huge Bathukammas on a special plate and womenfolk singing and dancing around it.
Bathukammas are then taken out in a procession to be immersed a river or any nearby waterbody.
The flowers used in Bathukamma are capable of purifying water in ponds and tanks.
The festival concludes a day before the Dasara Festival.
The Union Ministry of Culture has announced that this festival would be celebrated at the India Gate for the first time.
The celebrations will be in line with the Telangana/Hyderabad Liberation Day celebrations that were organized earlier this month, when the national flag was hoisted in Hyderabad by Home Minister Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, the Telangana government has started the distribution of 1 crore Bathukamma sarees for this festive occasion.
The initiative was started by the Telangana government in 2017 to support weavers in the state.