With partial rejuvenation of the historic Kempambudhi Kere and the lake filling up with water due to good rains this season, Teppotsava for Dodda Basavanna will be held on Monday, the day of Kadalekayi Parishe. The last teppotsava - when a beautified boat mantapam with the idol of Dodda Basavanna was let float on the lake - was held in 2008. It was then discontinued owing to the bad condition of the lake.
“Teppotsava was part of Kadalekayi Parishe for centuries, but was discontinued for many years owing to the bad condition of Kempambudhi Kere. The last time it was held was in 2008, but the lake has been partially rejuvenated and has water now. We are restarting the tradition this year and we are confident we can continue it from here on,” said L.A. Ravi Subramanya, MLA, Basavanagudi.
The 16th century lake, said to be built by Kempe Gowda in honour of his family deity Kempamma, has also been selected to be further developed under the 75 Amrit Sarovar Scheme of the Union government. “We will develop boating and other facilities in the lake shortly,” the MLA said.
After two years of being low key, this year, Kadalekayi Parishe is expected to attract a footfall of at least six lakh. With good rains, the groundnut crop has also been good in Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagaram, Kolar, Chickballapur and other districts surrounding the city, sources said.
The parishe this year will have more than 2,500 stalls and groundnut farmers from even Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are setting up stalls this season.
The civic body is striving hard to make it a plastic free event. “We have tied up with several organisations to create awareness and distribute paper and cloth bags to vendors. We also appeal to the public to bring their own bags. We are also deploying marshals to enforce the ban,” said Dharanendra Kumar, Executive Engineer, Basavanagudi, BBMP.
While the traditional parishe is on the last Monday of the Karthika month, November 21, this year, it will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday evening, with a tulabhara of groundnuts and a Dodda Basavanna idol. “The groundnut stalls will start coming up by Friday itself as people will likely visit more during the weekend. We have advanced the inauguration to Sunday evening to avoid any inconvenience to devotees on Monday, when all the religious events, including teppotsava in the evening, will be held as per tradition,” said Mr. Subramanya.
Cultural programmes will be held in Bugle Rock, Basavangudi and Narasimhaswamy Park, Banashankari during the parishe. The groundnut stalls are expected to be around till the next weekend. The civic body has also developed a park near Dodda Basavanagudi with permanent installations depicting Kadalekayi Parishe, this year.
