It is not traffic jam but groundnut jam in the streets of Basavangudi in south Bangalore. The yearly Groundnut festival, locally known as Kadalekai Parishe, attracts young and old alike. It is a congregation of groundnut farmers on Bull Temple Road, Basvangudi. Streets are lined with heaps of unshelled peanuts and eager farmers wait to get their farm produce sold off. I didn’t know the groundnut shells can be of so many shades of brown! No traffic is allowed on these streets for the 2 days the festival is held. There are heaps of raw unshelled groundnuts, roasted unshelled groundnuts, and boiled versions too. Then there are pushcarts selling shelled and boiled peanuts, sprinkled with pepper and salt, mixed with onions and lemon juice. While the wholesale dealers and retailers haggled with farmers, the local public flocked around these groundnut vendors. LEGEND OF GROUNDNUT FESTIVAL
It is believed that the groundnut festival or the Kadalekai Parishe as called in local language Kannada, started in the year 1537AD. In those days several villages around this present Bangalore grew groundnuts and made their livelihood. However tragedy struck and their peanut fields were ravaged at night by a roving bull. It was no ordinary bull but Himself.
Nandi is Lord Shiva’s vehicle. So to please and calm Him down they began praying to Him. Nadaprabhu (landlord) Kempe Gowda dedicated a temple to the Big Bull (Dodda Basavaraj) atop a small hillock. They installed a huge statue of (4m tall). That is how we have the Big Bull Temple in Basavanagar. Ever since then the farmers from all nearby places offer the first harvest of groundnuts to Him!Every year the ritual of Tulabhara is done at the start of the festival. Tulabhara is an ancient Hindu practice in which a person is weighed against a commodity. In this case a special statue of Nandi is weighed against groundnuts. These groundnuts are then distributed as prasada (material substance of food that is a religious offering). This year too the ritual was done by the local political leaders.
TIMING OF KADALEKAI PARISHE (GROUNDNUT FESTIVAL) There is no fixed date in a year when the festival is celebrated. The dates are decided according to lunar calendar and falls on last Monday of , that is usually on late November or early December. Locals say consuming groundnuts from the first harvest that is offered to Bull Temple is auspicious and divine! The groundnut festival Bangalore is for just 2 days. But for past few years locals have extended by one more day. So 3 days of fun and frolic! It is such a joy to see that in this IT city of India such local faith is still accepted and practiced.FESTIVAL NOT LIMITED TO GROUNDNUTS What makes this festival more fun for kids is that alongside these groundnut sellers there are several other vendors selling a wide range of stuffs. From candy to clothing, you name it and you will find it there. Thankfully the roads are lined with huge trees, so the atmosphere is pleasant. Most sought after were the hawkers selling popular snacks like masala sprinkled puffed rice, cut seasonal fruits, the famous chilli bonda, sweets such as Jalebi and Mysorepaks. Young girls haggled over trinkets. And oh I saw a tattoo maker too! Here is a slideshow of the stuffs sold at the festival.TIPS TO ATTEND GROUNDNUT FESTIVAL BANGALORE The only and most important tip is: please carry your own bags to this festival. Please don’t burden the farmers and vendors with the extra cost of packaging. With plastic ban on they have to provide paper packaging. There are reports on paper that they had to hike the groundnut prices in order to cater for these paper packets. When is Kadalekai Parishe 2022? Groundnut festival in Bangalore is set to start from November 21. HOW TO REACH BULL TEMPLE ROAD Metro is the easiest and quickest way to reach Bull Temple Road. You have to get down at National College Metro station, yellow line. And from there, it is one and half km, you can go walking or hire a tuktuk. Cre: isharethese