Hyderabad celebrates carnival of buffalo bulls

Yadav community celebrates Sadar festival with prize buffalo bulls in Hyderabad streets, showcasing hard work and tradition.

It was a day of bulls on the streets of Hyderabad as the Yadav community members paraded their prize buffalo bulls through the streets of Narayanguda for Sadar Festival. Dunnapotu, a Telugu word of opprobrium for buffalo bulls during other times, was the word of the day as the community celebrated Dunnapotula Pandaga, which has been declared a State festival.

On the day of Deepavali, it was Narsingi’s cattle market that turned into the festival ground. On Friday, the festival reached the streets of Khairatabad and on Saturday, the biggest celebration was at Narayanguda. “The festival began here some 70 years ago. For 364 days, members of Yadav community do hard work, milking their animals and taking care of them. Today, we celebrate their hard work,” said Talasani Srinivas Yadav, who was a Minister during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi regime.

Freshly shaved and shimmering with a coat of mustard oil and parts of the body covered with red cloth, the bulls towered over the men who controlled them. “The festival marked two days after Deepavali is just a celebration of bulls. There is no prize. There are no winners. Everyone who has buffalo bulls brings them out to show how they can control their animals,” said Balraju Yadav, who made it to Narayanguda from Bowenpally.

“Earlier there were more bulls; now there are a few, and the biggest animals are brought from Haryana. Khairatabad had many families rearing them. Now, the numbers have dwindled. My two sons work in IT companies, and they are not interested in rearing animals. I have knee pain and can’t take care of them,” Mr. Balraju Yadav said.

When bulls bellowed, the announcer shouted: “Wah wah Yadav, Em mata em mata”. At other times, the shouts was: “Jai Yadav, Jai Madhav”. The two cinema halls of Shanti and Shalimar were turned into festive spaces with strobe lights and music as it was the first stop for the buffalo bulls.

Led by drummers, Krishna Yadav and his family members brought his two prize buffalo bulls to Narayanguda from Kachiguda. “Others may have bigger animals. But mine are very obedient,” said Krishna Yadav waiting for a time where he could make his animals rear up on hind legs and stand for a few minutes while the gaggle of men and women record it for their friends on social media. “The real show begins only at midnight,” he said while controlling the animal with a small rope.