NEWS

Historical ‘Kadalekai Parishe’ begins with strict Covid curbs

ABOUT

• Basavanagudi Festival/Groundnut Festival
• Started in the year 1537 AD
• Peanut fields in those times were savagely destroyed by the raging bull at night. The roving bull that ravaged the cultivation farms, was claimed to be the Lord Shiva’s vehicle, Nandi.
• Kempe Gowda who fortified the Indian state of Karnataka decided to appease the sacred Hindu demi-god, and dedicated a temple to ‘Dodda Basava’ (popularly known as The Nandi Temple) on top of the Basavanagudi hillock and installed the sacred bull.
• As a ritual, farmers offer prayers to Nandi and follow the auspicious ritual of offering the first harvest of groundnuts to Him.
• Held on the last Monday of Kartika month each year, farmers in large numbers congregate at the Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi.
• Farmers congregate at the Bull Temple each year to seek blessings for a good harvest.
• Heaps of different varieties and qualities of groundnuts spring up in the area surrounding the Bull Temple, the Dodda Ganesha Shrine, and the Bugle Rock Park in Basavanagudi, one of Bengaluru’s oldest suburbs.