Bathukamma

What it is

The name means mother goddess, come alive. The stack itself is called a bathukamma and is treated as the goddess Gauri. It is a cone of flowers laid in concentric rings of different colours, narrow at the top, anywhere from a hand's height to taller than a person. A small lump of turmeric paste, representing the goddess, is set on top. The festival runs for nine days and ends on Saddula Bathukamma, the grandest evening, around the same time as Durga Ashtami.

How it is made

Men of the family traditionally go out to gather flowers from fields and wasteland. The women start with a wide plate, often lined with a large leaf. Stems are cut to length and laid in a ring with the flower heads facing out. The middle is packed with leaves and stalks to support the next ring, which is set a little further in. Yellow tangedu usually forms the base, with white and pink plumes of gunugu above, then marigold, chrysanthemum and other flowers, one colour to a layer.

What it means

The festival gives thanks for water and for the season's growth. Many of the flowers used are valued in local medicine, and people say that when they dissolve in ponds they help to clean the water. Each evening the women place their stacks together, circle them with slow steps, and sing songs that pass from mother to daughter. On the last night the stacks are carried in procession to the water and set afloat. Telangana made Bathukamma its state festival after the state was formed in 2014.

How to take part

1. Be in Hyderabad or Warangal for the last evening, Saddula Bathukamma. Check the lunar date for the year.
2. Go to a lakeside such as Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad at dusk to see the stacks immersed.
3. Women visitors are often welcomed into the circle. Follow the steps of the person in front.

Good manners

• Take off your shoes before joining the circle or going near the stacks.
• The bathukamma is a goddess to those who made it. Do not touch one without being asked.

The flowers

BathukammaA nine-day flower festival celebrated by women in Telangana, IndiaSilver cock's combA tropical annual with feathery, vivid flower spikesAztec marigoldThe golden-yellow flower of Mexican altars and Day of the Dead offeringsChrysanthemumAutumn-blooming flower with thousands of varieties, cherished in East Asia and beyondSacred lotusThe pink aquatic flower sacred in Asia and grown for food, worship and beauty

Also part of it, and being written: Senna auriculata.

Sources and further reading

• Bathukamma on Wikipedia