The 600-year-old tradition of the groundnut fair, known as Kadalekai Parishe, has officially begin. The two-day event usually commences on the last day of the month of Kartika and is held in Basavanagudi, along the Bull Temple road.

Year after year, Bangaloreans and tourists wait for this carnival that was once only a small fair held for groundnut traders. Today, the fair is a full-fledged carnival with hordes of people seen thronging food carts, stalls and footpath vendors.

Legend has it that the villagers who lived atop the hillock in Basavanagudi once upon a time were distressed by the presence of a bull, which used to charge into their groundnut fields every full moon day and destroy the crop, leaving nothing for them.

The villagers then prayed to Basava (Nandi), and promised to offer their first yield every year in exchange for their crop to be spared.

Subsequently, a Basava idol was found in the area, which was said to have expanded rapidly, until it was installed in a temple built on the hillock by Magadi Kempegowda in the year 1537.

Renowned ever since as the ‘Bull Temple’, farmers from places like Yeshwanthpura, Dasarahalli, Hosakerehalli, and Guttahalli flock to Basavanagudi every year to offer their annual harvest and take part in the Parishe.

Reproduced from Deccan Chronicle