page_title: Benavara
section_title: Religious and cultural activities
hierarchical_section_title: Benavara / Religious and cultural activities
caption_attribution_description: English: Marigudi under construction
context_page_description: Benavara is a small farming village in Kunigal Taluk, Tumkur district, Karnataka State, India. It is located at a distance of about 100 km from the state capital, Bangalore.
context_section_description: Hinduism is the predominant religion in Benavara with three main castes, namely Dalits, Akkasaliga and Vakkaliga. Dalits are the majority caste and the village is mostly represented by Dalits in all walks of life. The resident Dalits faced a lot of persecution and discrimination from the neighboring villages till recently. Now discrimination on the basis of caste and creed is almost non existent. Since the turn of this century, there have been many graduates, engineers and doctors from this village.
  Religious activities in this village are in accordance to Hindu customs and traditions. The village is home for two famous temples in the locality, one dedicated to Goddess Pattaladamma, popularly called Benavaradamma and the other to Goddess Arivinamaramma. These goddesses are believed to be sisters. Pattaladamma is the incarnation of Goddess Parvathi and has devotees from 7 villages including Benavara, who are said to be from this village and migrated to other villages in the centuries ago. Such neighboring villages are Valagaerepura, Keelara, Hanchipura, Chendanahalli, Kuppe and Shettipura. All these villages have allegiance to these Goddesses and they perform all religious ceremonies.
  The devotees from these villages perform the annual festival that falls in the middle of  Chaitra masa. The festival is celebrated for 3 days starting on a Friday and ending on a Sunday. Two days are meant for Pattaladamma and one day for Arivinamaramma. People for all neighbouring villages except Kuppe and Settipura attend the festival. Ceremonies are performed with a Kurju, a Chariot; Pooje- a rectangular frame made of bamboo, decorated with 7 Kalasas on top and a mask of the Goddess in the center assembled on a stand, Gindi- a bronze pot placed decorated with colourful jewels, clothes and flowers, usually placed on the head of a devotee; and Patas, bamboo poles wrapped with colourful bands of cloth. The procession passes through the village thoroughfare, accompanied by a band of drummers and pipers with devotees dancing to the tune of the drums.
  On the first day, which is a Friday, one cart load of firewood from each of the 5 villages arrives at the temple premises at noon along with a procession of dancing devotees. The firewood is stacked in an elongated fire pit called Konda in front of the temple. Firewood is then lit in the evening and by morning, the pit is ready for fire walkers. The head priest and one Gudda, devotees who carry the Pooje, from each of the participating villages walk on the fire with Pooje on their head. Prayers are offered to the Goddess throughout the day followed by a night of revelry with devotees singing folk songs and dancing to the beats of drums. The festivities culminate in a spectacular display of fireworks just before dawn which draws a huge crowd from all neighboring villages.
  The second day which is a Saturday is called is "Jatre" (village fair). Processions like the ones described above are carried out in the afternoon and end with the Sun set. Till the 1980s, the day use to end with a ceremony called Doolamari where in the devotees used to sacrifice animals like sheep and goats in the name of the goddess. The sacrifice was performed in such a way that it used to instill fear in the hearts and minds of the devotees who saw the ceremony. The head priest would work himself into a trance and claiming that he had been possessed by the goddess, would kill the sacrificial animals one after the other by biting at gullet and drinking the blood. This practice is now banned.
  The third day which is a Sunday is again a day of Jatre, dedicated to Goddess Arivina Maramma, a powerful goddess believed to be younger sister of Goddess Pattaladamma. This day is also marked by animals sacrifices performed by devotees who make the offerings to appease the Goddess. Most of people from the above villages and natives who have settled in other cities visit this temple during the Jatre. All households prepare and serve sumptuous non vegetarian food on this day.
  The priests of these temples are from the fishermen community and 
caption: Marigudi
exif: {}