Telangana Festivals

Telangana Festivals :

Bathukamma

Bathukamma is a festival celebrated in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is especially celebrated by Hindu women. It is celebrated before Durgashtami festival.

Women prepare Bathukamma with all beautiful flowers in their home and they put Goddess Gouri on top of it. In the evening every one will gather at one place and they will put their Bathukamma in one place then by singing folk songs with claps they move around Bathukamma. After that they leave Bathukamma in water and share the special food which brought from home.

Medaram Sammakka Sarakka Jathara

There are many legends about the miraculous powers of sammakka .According to a tribal story, about 6-7 centuries ago,that is in the 13th century, some tribal leaders who went for a hunting found a new born girl (Sammakka) emitting enormous light playing amidst tigers. She was taken to their habitation . The head of the tribe adopted her and brought up as a chief tain (She later became the saviour of the tribals of the region) she was married to Pagididda Raju a feudatory tribal chief of Kakatiyas(who ruled the country of Andhra from Warangal City between 1000 AD and 1380 AD).She was blessed with 2 daughters and one son namely Sarakka, Nagulamma and Jampanna respectively.

After sometime, there was a severe drought that lasted for years and as a result the mighty Godavari River dried up.   pagedde Raju didn't pay tribute to King Pratapa Rudra. In turn king Pratapa rudra sent his army to subdue the tribals and collect the tribute. Then a War was fought between tribal chief pagidde Raju and Kakatiya army on the banks of "Sampenga Vagu" (Jampanna Vagu). The Koya army fought valiantly but could not with stand the well equipped Kakatiya army. Though fought valiantly Pagididda Raju, his daughters Sarakka, Nagulamma, son in law Govinda Raju lost (husband of Sarakka) lives in the battle. Later Jampanna also dies in Sampenga Vagu (after renamed as Jampanna Vagu in the memory of his heroic fight against well trained Kakatiya army). .

Upon hearing this news Sammakka also enters war and fights and causes lot of damage to kakatiya army. Surprised by her Bravery And Valour the Kakatiya Prime Minister visited war ravaged Koya kingdom with proposal of peace and offered Sammakka a place in the emperor’s harem as the chief queen.  Samakka turned down the offer and resolved to continue the fight to avenge the dead.   The battle continued and Sammakka was seriously wounded .  Samakka told her people that as long as they remembered her, she would protect them.  Then, she cursed the Kaktiya dynasty to perish  And with that wounded body proceeded towards Chilakala gutta and disappeared  in the forest.  The grieving Koyas searched for their queen all they found were a red ochre box(a container of vermilion), her  bangles … and the pug marks of a huge full grown tigress, exactly the same place where she was found as a infant by the koyas.  The Kakatiya dynasty came to an end very soon. Since then the Koyas, Waddaras and other Indian tribes and castes have been holding festivals in memory of Sammakka and Sarakka regularly 

Bonala Panduga

Bonalu is a Hindu festival celebrated in parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema in Andrapradesh, India. It is Very famous in Hyderabad, secunderabad and in Telangana region. The Word Bonalu came from "Bhojanalu" meaning food, which is offered to the goddess during festival time. It is celebrated during ashada masam.                 It is believed that during Ashada Maasam, the Goddess comes back to her maternal home. So people come to see her and bring offerings of food (Bonalu) to show their love and affection, just as they would prepare a special meal when their own daughters visit them. To ward off evil spirits, in olden days, people used to sacrifice a male buffalo in front of the temple, but now, roosters are sometimes sacrificed.