36 Days of Type: 8

8 - Kadalekayi Parishe

Kadalekai Parishe is an annual groundnut fair held in Bangalore. This two-day fair is held near the Dodda Ganesha Temple in Basavanagudi on the last Monday of Karthika Masa.

In the past, Basavanagudi was surrounded by villages where groundnut was cultivated. On every full moon day, a bull would charge into the groundnut fields and damage the crop. The farmers then offered prayers to Basava (Nandi) to stop this and pledged to offer their first crop.

After the idol was found, in the year 1537, Kempe Gowda, dedicated a temple to ‘Dodda Basava’ on top of the Basavanagudi hillock and installed the Idol. This temple is known as Bull Temple, to which the annual harvest of groundnut is offered to Lord Basava.

Just Bengaluru Things.