what is bathukamma in telugu

Bathukamma is a Hindu flower festival celebrated by women in Telangana and some parts of Andhra Pradesh. The festival is celebrated for nine days and corresponds to the festivals of Sharad Navratri and Durga Puja. The name "Bathukamma" means "Mother Goddess come Alive" in Telugu. During the festival, women create a beautiful flower stack, arranged with different unique seasonal flowers, most of them with medicinal values, in seven concentric layers in the shape of a temple gopuram. It is usually brothers who bring flowers to their mother and sisters to arrange Bathukamma. The festival represents the cultural spirit of Telangana and has gained increased significance during the Telangana movement as a marker of the regions separate cultural identity from Andhra Pradesh. The purpose of the festival is to pray to the Goddess in the belief that young girls would get husbands as per their wish, to teach the young girls how to take care of their in-laws, their husbands, be great women who respect elders, love people around them, and be guides to others.