Bathukamma is
a flower festival that has its origins
in the villages of present-day
Telangana. It is celebrated over the
nine days of Navratri, and only women
participate in the festivities. On each
day of Bathukamma, girls and women
decorate a brass plate with different
coloured flowers that are piled up in
tapering, circular layers, crowned with
a cone of turmeric at the apex. The
flower arrangements (also called
‘bathukamma’) are meant to represent the
gopuram of a temple.
On each day of
the festival, the women dress up in
their traditional finery, carry the
bathukammas to a congregation point,
sing and dance, and then immerse the
flowers in water to mark the culmination
of the celebrations.
While these
floral arrangements are the most
striking feature of Bathukamma (after
all, the festival is named for them),
there is a lot of emphasis on food as
well, especially that which is made as
an offering for the Goddess Gowri
(‘palaharam’). It is said that
Bathukamma evolved as a folk festival in
ancient times, as a way for women to not
only have a safe space for gathering and
sharing their joys and tribulations, but
also to thank the heavens for the
natural bounty received in that year. It
isn’t surprising then, that the foods
offered during the festive days also
mirror this concept of abundance and
fertility.
Here’s the
order in which the palaharam is prepared
over the nine days:
Day 1 — Til
and rice flour with ‘nookalu’ (coarsely
ground wet rice)
Day 2 — Boiled
lentils with jaggery and ‘atkulu’
(flattened parboiled
rice)
Day 3 — Softened
boiled lentils combined with milk and
jaggery
Day 4 — Milk and
jaggery with ‘nananesina biyyam’ (wet
rice)
Day 5 — Uppudu
Pindi Atlu (wheatlets
pancakes/dosas)
Day 6 — No
palaharam
Day 7 —
Deep-fried rice flour dumplings, shaped
like Neem fruit
Day 8 — Sesame
with ghee and jaggery
Day 9 — Five
types of cooked rice dishes (curd,
tamarind, lemon, coconut and
sesame)
A Bathukamma
specialty is ‘malida muddalu’, a
laddoo-like dish that is made with sajja
pindi (finger millet flour).
For
food stories, recipes and meal
plans visit the Slurrp website
or download the app. Click
here for a guide to
Navratri feasting (and
fasting).
