A festival of wood apples at Karnataka's Godachi

Every Hosthilu Hunnime, Godachi comes alive with devotees, traders and heaps of sweet-sour bel fruits in a festival that clubs health and tradition, write Ganadhalu Srikanta and Channappa Madar

Ganadhalu Srikanta and Channappa Madar

On the full moon day of Marghashira Maasa (usually in December), celebrated as Hostilu Hunnime in North Karnataka, the premises of the Veerabhadreshwara Temple at Godachi, near Ramdurg in Belagavi district, come alive with piles of bel fruit, locally known as baluvala hannu. Devotees queue up to take the fruit home as prasada, continuing a tradition practised for generations.

The five-day festival draws devotees from Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Haveri, Koppal and surrounding districts. 

Known by a variety of regional names — byala, bela, belavatthe, belavala, baluvala, baluvol, boloḷ, bollolli, dantashata and kapitta — the fruit is botanically identified as Limonia acidissima and commonly called wood apple. In and around Ramdurg, it is referred to as baluvala. During the festival, devotees buy the fruit from vendors to take home as prasada, making it central to the identity of the fair.

“Only when pilgrims buy the baluvala fruit does the festival feel complete. That is why the Godachi Veerabhadra fair is popularly called the Baluvala Hannina Jatre,” says Eeranna Kamannavar, a devotee.

Loads of bel fruit arrive at Godachi on the first day of the fair. This year, more than 15 lorries reached the village on the first day. The gram panchayat and the festival committee allocate space for vendors, who set up open stalls and begin selling immediately. Along with bel fruit, traders also sell baare (Indian jujube) and bananas, though it is the baluvala that draws the most attention.

“Every family buys at least five fruits, and some take home an entire bag,” says Dyamanna Nagappa Amaragol, a trader who has been selling the fruit at the fair for decades. “Sharing the fruit with relatives and neighbours is also part of the culture.”

The fruit taken home is consumed in many ways. Basavva Totagatti from Chandargi village describes a common method: “The pulp of the bel fruit is mixed with jaggery and kept for a day. The taste that develops is what many people look forward to.”

More than 50 traders sell bel fruit during the fair. Since the fruit is not widely cultivated in the Belagavi region, it is sourced from Haveri, Shiggaon, Hanagal, Gondhi and Anavatti.

Bel fruit

Traders say that while the fair runs through the month, sales peak between the full moon and the new moon, after which stocks deplete.

Local legend links the tradition of offering bel fruit to Madivala Machayya Sharanaru, a 12th-century reformer.

“According to belief, during a visit to the region, he noticed the prevalence of illness and advised people to consume the bel fruit, known for its medicinal value. To ensure that people took it regularly, he distributed the fruit as prasada. Over time, the practice became part of the temple’s tradition,” says Kiran Kumar, professor at the University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, who was told about the fair’s background by a veteran resident of Godachi.

Devotees buy bel fruit during Veerabhadreshwara Temple fair at Godachi near Belagavi

Kiran Kumar has studied bel fruit for over two decades. It was during a visit to Godachi in 2015 that he learned about the festival’s background from villagers. “There are no written records of when or how the fair began,” he says, “but the continuity of the practice itself is significant.”

That continuity is evident among traders like Dyamanna Amaragol. “My father sold bel fruits at the fair, and my grandfather did the same. I am carrying forward the tradition into the third generation,” he says.

Traders dump bel fruits on the temple premises before the fair.

Packed with nutrition

Bel fruit has a distinctive sweet-sour taste and is rich in vitamin C, potassium, iron, minerals and antioxidants. Long valued for its medicinal properties, it is often called a healing fruit. Through the fair at Godachi, bel fruit reaches households across North Karnataka as temple prasada, where faith, food and community tradition come together each year. 

(Translated from Kannada by Divyashri Mudakavi)