KadleKai Parashae - Peanuts Fair or Jatara

Karthika Masa last Monday (as per Kannada Hindu Almanac) is a fair time at Basavanagudi, Bengaluru South, Karnataka. Kadlekai Parishe  Parashae

 

is the fair or Jatara held annually. Kadle Kai in Kannada means –Peanuts or Groundnuts. This is actually a two-day fair or jatara now extended to four days or so. The whole of the Bull temple road, the back side of BMS Engineering college road, and surrounding areas around 5 km are occupied by peanut vendors.

There are two famous temples on the bull temple road-the Dodda Ganesha Temple and the Dodda Basava temple in Basavanagudi. Apart from the peanuts or groundnuts, there are numerous stalls in the fair, selling Bangles, clay pots, traditional toys and clay trinkets, plastic and glass dolls, food courts, and Mehndi tattoos.

The legend story behind Kadlekai Parishe goes like this, in the past, Basavanagudi was surrounded by villages like Sunkenahalli, Guttahalli, Mavalli, Dasarahalli, and other places where peanuts or groundnut crop 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.

‘Basava or the Bull or the Nandi’ as it is known in India. The Bull is the vehicle of Lord Shiva, known as Nandi. Nandeeshvara- is another name for Lord Shiva. So, in every Shiva temple, one can see Nandi or the bull seated before the Sanctorum. It is said that one has to take Nandi or the bull’s permission to visit Shiva to offer prayers. All the wish-fulfilling are whispered in Nandi o the bull’s ear.

Subsequently, after some days, an idol of Basava –the bull was found nearby the farmers. It is believed that the idol was growing rapidly, and the farmers nailed an iron peg on the head of the idol, which is visible in the form of a trishula even to this date. Legend says that even today one can witness the night on which this Kadalekai Parishe or Parashae ends, Lord Basavanna - The big Bull, used to come in animal form and eat up all the groundnut and peels left overnight on the streets.

Yet another legend goes like this: founder of Bangalore Kempe Gowda had come to the temple and learned about the story. He had prayed for the welfare of the farmers at the temple, and there he had a vision of a treasure which he acquired later was used to build a temple based on the architecture of Hampi of the Vijayanagar empire. Incidentally, the big Bull Temple, or the Basava Temple is on the hillock near Bugle Rock in Basavanagudi.

Farmers from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana states, and locals offer their first crop to Lord Basava. During this time, every year, 100,000 lamps are lit in the Bull temple. This is accompanied by the annual fair for groundnuts. The entire Bull Temple Road will host the festive look during this time. The road blocked from Bugle Rock to Ramakrishna Mutt.

Groundnut lovers find a great variety of groundnuts from Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Kolar, Doddaballapur, Ramnagara, and a few areas of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. The ground nuts are spiced, fried, salted, boiled, sugar-coated, and roasted.

Since last year or so, the organizers have appealed to the public to carry or bring their own cloth bags to cut down plastic bag usage and ban plastic bags. This has definitely benefitted both the organizers and the public and greatly cut down on plastic usage.