As the sun sets, the lanes and bylanes of Hanamkonda, Kazipet and Warangal brighten up. Women, young and old, in their best attire head to the nearby temples and street corners to celebrate Bathukamma.
They carry trays arranged with a variety of flowers in a cone shape. They vie with one another in arranging the flowers as high as possible. Though the evening rituals last for an hour, the women wake up early and prompt their children to collect as many flowers as possible from the neighbourhood.
All the flowers available during the season “Cassia (thangedu), luffa (bera), celosia (gunugu), nelumbo (thamara) cucurbita (gummadi), marigold (banthi), crossandra (kanakambaram), ixora (ramabanam), hibiscus (mandhara), and so on are collected and attractively arranged. Women mostly gather at the Thousand Pillar temple, Bhadrakali temple, Padmakshi temple in Hanamkonda and some of them look for street corners in their respective localities. They form a circle and place their ‘bathukammas’ in the centre. They form a circle clapping and dancing rhythmically. All songs carry the essence ‘long live mother’ urging the goddess to take birth. These moments last for nine days during the Durga Navaratri celebrations preceding Vijayadasami.
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Legend has it that king Daksha performed a ‘yagna’ and invited all but his youngest daughter ‘Gauri’, who married Lord Siva against his will. However, Gauri goes to the yagna uninvited and is insulted by her father. Gauri then kills herself. Women make an image with turmeric paste and worship it as Gauri urging her to come back to life. According to local lore, this was also spiritual celebration offering prayers to Goddess Kali by the women to bless their children with long life.