Hiremarali village to celebrate Bannantamma festival on January 21 after 20 years

Mysuru: A village in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district is all set to celebrate Sri Bannantamma festival on Tuesday and Wednesday, after a long gap of 20 years.

Preparations are underway for the Hiremarali Bannantamma festival at Hiremarali village. The festival will be followed by ‘Dodda Habba’ (big festival) for 15 days by the villagers.

Village heads and youths are taking steps to preserve ancient festivals. Thus, the Amma festival (also known as Eeredevara festival) and Dodda Habba (also known as Lakshmidevi festival) have been initiated, said H R Dhananjay, a native of Hiremarali.

The village deity of Hiremarali is Bannantamma. The village has a common house, entrusted to the temple priests, where leaders of all castes gather and discuss issues related to the deity and festival.

On Tuesday, the priests and village heads of all communities will proceed to the village pond called Chikkere to perform puja, and bring mud from there.

Dhananjay, a Kannada lecturer in Mysuru, said, “Leaders of the Vishwakarma community prepare the idol with the mud. Next, Manjunath, son of the late Eerashetty from Madivala community, and his family members, decorate the idol with jewellery and takes her to Visvesvaraya Canal, near Chikkere, for puja. From there, Manjunath carries the idol through the main streets of the village. At the main entrance of the village, they offer puja, break coconuts and offer fruits. The idol is placed under a green canopy in front of the old school building, near Basavanagudi. A sacrificial offering is made, and the family of Manjunath conducts the pujas”.