Gorehabba

Gorehabba (lit. 'cow dung festival' in Kannada) is a local Hindu folklore festival celebrated in a village called Gumatapura,<ref>Encyclopaedia of the Folk Culture of Karnataka: Introductory articles. Institute of Asian Studies. 1991.</ref> a Kannada-speaking village which lies on the border shared by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.<ref>"Cattle Royale: Dung Fight Marks End of Diwali". ABC News. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2025.</ref><ref name=":1">Madhav, Pramod (4 November 2024). "Why does this Tamil Nadu village throw cow dung to end Diwali?". India Today. Retrieved 10 January 2025.</ref><ref>"Villagers celebrate unique cow dung splashing ritual". The Hindu. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2025.</ref> Gumatapura, also spelled Gumatapur, was formerly part of Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka and was transferred to Tamil Nadu following the States Reorganisation Act.<ref>Asianet news, Kannada. "Chamarajanagar: People celebrate Gore festival in Gumatapur village on the border of Chamarajanagar! in kannada". Asianet Suvarna News (in ಕನ್ನಡ). Retrieved 31 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)</ref><ref>Kannada, TV9 (4 November 2024). "The Gore festival celebrated every year in Gumatapur village of Chamarajanagar district in Kannada". TV9 Kannada (in ಕನ್ನಡ). Retrieved 31 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)</ref><ref name="News18Gorehabba">"The Gore festival". News18 Kannada (in ಕನ್ನಡ). News18. Retrieved 31 January 2026.</ref>

Dedicated to Beerappa, a god worshipped by Kurubas community. It is celebrated a day after Diwali's Bali Padyami, whereby the festival involves participants playfully throwing or smearing cow dung on one another as part of a local ritual tradition.<ref>"This Indian village celebrates cow dung festival to mark end of Diwali". Hindustan Times. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2025.</ref><ref>Phadnis, Shekher (16 October 2011). "A Strange Diwali Celebration". The Navhind Times. Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2013.</ref>

Background

Main articles: Beerappa and Kuruba

See also: Cow dung § In Hinduism

As per local legends, god Beerappa, who is worshipped by the Kuruba community, was born from cow dung; therefore, the festival is celebrated by splashing cow dung on one another.<ref name="diwalifestival13">Sinha, Anamika (25 October 2025). "Inside India's wildest Diwali celebration: Villagers in Karnataka throw cow dung to mark end of festivities". The Financial Express. Retrieved 26 October 2025.</ref> It is also believed that participating in the cow dung splashing game cures people of all kinds of diseases, which is one of the reasons for keeping the tradition alive, even after hundreds of years.<ref name="diwalifestival2">"Gorehabba". Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India (SCFI). Retrieved 12 April 2013.</ref>

Cow dung has ritual importance in Hinduism, where it is believed to have cleansing properties and is used in purification rituals.<ref name=":0">Daria, S.; Islam, M. R. (2021). "The use of cow dung and urine to cure COVID-19 in India: A public health concern". The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 36 (5): 1950–1952. doi:10.1002/hpm.3257. PMC 8239506. PMID 34037266.</ref> According to Shiva Purana, certain ceremonial ablutions on the linga are performed with panchagavya that contains a mix of five substances obtained from cows viz., cow's urine (gojala), dung (gomaya), milk (kṣīra), curd (dadhi) and ghee (ājya).<ref>Shastri, J. L. (1950). The Siva-Purana, Part 1. Motilal Banarsidass.</ref>

Festival

The festival is around 300 years old.<ref name=":1" /> The ceremony begins early in the morning, when men, women and children start collecting cow dung from all over the village and dump it behind the local Beerappa Temple. Later, girls and <!-- half-naked --> boys go around the village collecting oil and butter to offer puja at the temple. They then collect more oil and butter and offer puja at the Karappa Temple, located one kilometre from the Beerappa temple.<ref name="deccan">"Dung-slingers aim at peace". Deccan Herald. 8 November 2010.<!-- auto-translated from Catalan by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Once the puja is done, the villagers return in procession. On the way back, one person is designated as the chadikora (sneak). Then a moustache and beard made of herbs are fixed on him, he sits on a donkey and is taken to the temple in procession.<ref name="deccan" /><ref name="diwalifestival">"Gorehabba". Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India (SCFI). Retrieved 12 April 2013.</ref>

After reaching the temple, the chadikora's moustache and beard are removed and buried in the pit where the dung heap has been deposited. Then, a puja is offered on the cow dung heap and the celebration begins. The first act after the puja is to sprinkle dung on the priest, which is considered the signal to start throwing cow dung at each other. Each person in the village is pushed into the pit and smeared with cow dung. At the same time, thousands of people from the surrounding villages gather to watch the ceremony. <ref name="diwalifestival" /><ref name="deccan" />

Later, an effigy of the chadikora is made and taken to a nearby hill called Kondigekara Gudda to be burned, along with a chicken. The villagers cleanse themselves in the lake, return to the village and worship the chadikora.<ref name="diwalifestival" /><ref name="deccan" />

Similar to Gorehabba, people in the village of Kairuppala near Aspari in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh celebrate Pidakala War.<ref>"People are throwing cow dung at each other". Metro. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2025.</ref>

In 2025, American YouTuber Tyler Oliveira released videos in which he participated in the festival.<ref>Basak, Anuj (24 October 2025). "What is Gorehabba? YouTuber Tyler Oliveira seen screaming "They are going to kill me" as he participates in India's cow-dung throwing festival". SoapCentral. Retrieved 26 October 2025.</ref><ref name="diwalifestival12">Sinha, Anamika (25 October 2025). "Inside India's wildest Diwali celebration: Villagers in Karnataka throw cow dung to mark end of festivities". The Financial Express. Retrieved 26 October 2025.</ref>

See also

• Pidakala War – a cow dung fight following Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, India
• Carnival of Ivrea – an orange fight in Italy
• La Tomatina – a tomato fight in Spain
• Songkran – during which water fights are held in Thailand <!-- note: water fights are also held outside of thailand, but the general songkran article only briefly mentions them -->

External links

• Indian village celebrates end of Diwali with cow dung fight. Al Jazeera. 24 October 2025.
• Gorehabba festival celebrant piles cow dung. BBC Motion Gallery.
• Dung-slingers aim at peace. Deccan Herald.