For nine evenings every autumn, Telangana turns into a flower festival. Women gather in colony parks and apartment courtyards with towering stacks of tangedu, gunugu, banti and chamanti, sing the old Bathukamma songs, and dance in slow circles around them as the light goes. Flower markets are packed from dawn. Offices in Madhapur and Hitec City hold their own circles at lunch. And on the last day the whole city walks to the water.
In 2026, Bathukamma runs from Saturday, 10 October to Sunday, 18 October, starting on Mahalaya Amavasya and ending with Saddula Bathukamma on the 18th — two days before Dussehra. It overlaps Navratri almost exactly, so October is one long celebration.
Bathukamma 2026 dates at a glance
- Sat 10 Oct — Engili Pula Bathukamma (day 1, Mahalaya Amavasya)
- Sun 11 Oct — Atukula Bathukamma
- Mon 12 Oct — Muddapappu Bathukamma
- Tue 13 Oct — Nanabiyyam Bathukamma
- Wed 14 Oct — Atla Bathukamma
- Thu 15 Oct — Aligina Bathukamma
- Fri 16 Oct — Vepakayala Bathukamma
- Sat 17 Oct — Vennamuddala Bathukamma
- Sun 18 Oct — Saddula Bathukamma (day 9, immersion)
Organising your colony's evenings? Send one invitation from a Bathukamma invitation template and run all nine evenings from one Circle — the setup is below.
What is Bathukamma?
The word comes from Telugu — "Mother Goddess, come alive." It's a prayer for prosperity and well-being offered through flowers rather than idols: the Bathukamma itself is a conical stack of seasonal blooms built on a brass plate, with a turmeric Gauramma on top. Each of the nine days has its own name and its own naivedyam, from Engili Pula Bathukamma on day one to the grand Saddula Bathukamma on day nine, when the stacks are carried in procession to a lake or tank and set afloat.
Where Hyderabad celebrates
- Your own colony. This is where most Bathukamma actually happens — a park, a courtyard, a stretch of lane. Every evening, 6 to 8, the same women, the same songs.
- Tank Bund and Necklace Road on Saddula day. Thousands of women in silk and sarees immersing their Bathukammas in Hussain Sagar. The state's official celebration is here, with cultural stages along the road and — most years — a "floral holi" of petals at the finale.
- Local tanks and ponds across the city, from the Old City to Cyberabad, for the neighbourhood immersions.
- Workplaces and campuses — IT parks, colleges and schools hold Bathukamma circles during the week, usually the Friday before Saddula.
Bathukamma beyond Telangana
The festival travels wherever Telangana does. Telugu associations in Dallas, New Jersey, Chicago, Houston and Seattle hold combined Bathukamma-and-Dasara weekends with folk songs, flower stacks and food stalls; communities in Dubai, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain do the same, often with the local Indian consulate hosting a public celebration. If you're abroad, the format below works exactly the same — you'll just be ordering marigolds instead of picking tangedu.
Organising a Bathukamma circle without breaking a sweat
Nine evenings, one big finale, a flower rota, a snack rota, and forty women who all need to know what time to come down. It's the same problem as any recurring celebration, and it has the same fix.
- One Circle for the season. Create a "Bathukamma 2026" Circle for your colony, apartment block or ladies' club, and invite everyone once. Then schedule all nine evenings inside it, with Saddula on the 18th as the big one. Everyone sees one calendar; nobody asks "is it on tonight?"
- The flower rota is a potluck. Turn on the Potluck Manager and set the categories to the flowers — tangedu, gunugu, banti, chamanti, katla — plus the naivedyam for each day. Each household claims what they'll bring. No more three bags of marigold and no tangedu.
- Songs, steps and the colour of the day go in the Activity Feed — a rehearsal video for the newcomers, the song list for the evening, the saree colour everyone's agreed on.
- Decide by poll. Which tank for immersion? Auto or bus to Tank Bund? One poll in the Circle beats a 200-message thread.
- Assign the finale. Saddula day needs someone on transport, someone on the sound, someone on the prasad, someone counting the stacks back in. Assign Tasks, and Antsy reminds each of them the day before.
- Invite the wider community. For the big evening, send a proper invitation — pick a Bathukamma or goddess-puja template, add the time and place, and share the link on WhatsApp. Print it for the notice board; the QR code opens the same page.
Running it for a residents' welfare association or a women's association? An Organization keeps every Circle under one roster and sends reminders from your association's own WhatsApp Business number, so members know who's messaging. See how Organizations work.
After Saddula: photos and next year
The immersion is where the best photos happen — and where they scatter across forty phones. Ask everyone to upload to the event gallery, and there's one album by the time you're home. Then open the Feedback Corner for a day: which tank, which songs, what to change. The Circle stays; next October you publish the nine evenings again in one tap.
Or just ask Antsy
Tell Antsy "set up our colony's Bathukamma — nine evenings from 10 October at 6, Saddula on the 18th at Tank Bund" and it builds the events, drafts the invite and asks what's missing. If you plan in Claude, connect Fast Party and do the same from your chat.
Wrapping up
Bathukamma is Telangana's pride in full bloom — and the part worth keeping is the circle, not the coordination. Gather your flowers, call your Circle, and let the planning live in one place. Start with a template from the Celebration Hub.
Celebrating Navratri the same week? Here's our Hyderabad Navratri guide, garba nights included.
Dussehra follows two days after Saddula — here's how to host Golu, Ravan Dahan and the Vijayadashami lunch.
Next up: Diwali on 8 November
Three weeks after the flowers go to the water, it's Diwali — Dhanteras on Friday 6 November, Diwali on Sunday the 8th. Pick a Diwali invitation template, or read how to host a Diwali party at home, in the office or in your society.