Teej festival akin to Bathukamma

 

Lambada women playing as part of Teej like in Bathukamma

The nine-day Teej festival celebrated by Lambada tribal women was similar in many respects to Bathukamma celebrated by women folk of other communities in the Telangana.  

Both Teej and Bathukamma festivals have many similarities in celebration and purpose and their link with nature. Both the festivals were women centric and nine-day festivals.

The Teej festival starts on Rakhi pournamy in the month of Sravan and starts with sowing of wheat in woven bowls and which will come up as sprouts later.      

Bathukamma is popularly known as celebration of flowers which was linked to nature especially water bodies and flowers and trees in the village.

Water in the tanks and ponds will get purified with the petals of flowers as petals absorb polluted elements when the Bathukammas are immersed in the tanks and ponds on the last day.

In both the festivals, women pray the Goddess Gouramma (parvathi) in Bathukamma and Jagadamba in Teej for her blessing seeking good husband and married women for the well being of their husbands. In both the festivals, women prepare a special item with the roti mixed with jaggery.     

In both the festivals, women folk dress in colorful costumes and encircle the bowl of sprouts and Bathukammas keeping them in the centre. They clap in rhythm to the folk songs and dance gracefully to the music.

On the ninth day, in both the festivals women take out a procession with their Bathukamma and sprout bowls to local lakes or ponds and immerse them in the water.

Elderly women sing songs while younger women actively participate in the event and married older women guide the younger women in performing customs and rituals attached to Teej in nine days like in Bathukamma festival.

The state government for the first time released Rs 25 lakhs to each district to  celebrate the Teej festival officially recognizing it as state celebration like Bathukamma in the newly formed Telangana state.

Rathod Meenakshi of Utnoor said ‘there are many similarities between Teej and Bathukamma festivals and it seems there was connection between the two festivals and purposes and added that both the festivals will be played for nine –day and  ‘Sprout bowls’ and ‘Bathukammas’ will be immersed in the water bodies on the last day’.

Parents invite all their married daughters to maternal home for Teej festival like for Bathukamma. 

Adivasis flock Jangubai temple

Adivasis of Mankguda in Danthanpalli to Jangubai temple

All roads are leading to cave temple of Jangubai located in the deep jungles in Kerameri mandal on the borders of Telangana and Maharashtra states.

Thousands of Adivasi devotees from Maharashtra and Telangana districts are coming here to have darshan of Goddess Jangubai to fulfill their vows.

As Adivasis believe that goddess Jangubai used to stay in the caves, the religious heads of eight Gond clans are now lighting an earthen lamp in the cave. Having darshan of Jangubai gives a spiritual experience which cannot be described in words.

Adivasis come with their families and other villagers as a group. They stay in the jungles only during the night time and start their journey covering all their religious places enroute to the Jangubai temple. 

The pilgrimage to the Jangubai may even take one week or more for the people of distant places in the Adilabad and other parts of Telangana and also bordering Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Odisha.

The material required for religious event and other luggage will kept in bullock carts and some time place their children in them and the elders walk on foot.

They strongly believe that Jangubai is powerful goddess and their wishes will be fulfilled if they pray for her. Though they have been performing special pujas at Jangubai from the time immemorial, the number of devotees coming to the temple is increasing now.

Jangubai temple chairman Marapa Bhajirao, said the special pujas will be performed at the temple thrice in a year and it starts in the pusyamas and will continue in the entire month and added the drinking water has become major problem for the devotees and the Telangana government must make proper arrangements.                               

Beat the cold wave with garlic pods