FOR the Telugu Hindu community, Deepavali or the Festival of Light is the most important celebration after Ugadi, which is the Telegu New Year, and Makar Sakranthri, also known as Ponggal in Tamil Nadu.
Deepavali, which is traditionally an occasion for the south and north Indian communities to celebrate the victory of good over evil, is however observed a bit differently by the Telugus from the south.
Couple S. Vengkataramana, 55, and G. Letchmy, 52, and their children Shudarshan Rao, 23, Soban Rao, 22, and Hari Kirthini, 17, of Taman Dahlia in Kulim will begin the day by waking up at 5am for morning prayers.
Joint effort: Children getting the kolam ready for Deepavali at Vengkataramana's home in Kulim.
While most Hindus take oil baths and offer prayers to deceased family members on Deepavali, Telugus will only do so during Makar Sakranthri in January.
“A day before Makar Sakranthri, called Boghi, we will usually apply a mixture of tumeric powder, green bean paste and sesame oil on our bodies to symbolically remove impurities before warming ourselves at a campfire,” says Vengkataramana, a businessman.
On Deepavali after the morning baths, his family members will wear new clothes that are earlier placed at the feet of deity Lord Vishnu on the prayer altar.
The men will don silk jippa shirts and veshti tied in kattupanchi style where the cloth is wrapped around the legs (like a pair of trousers) with the ends pleated and folded at the back of their waist.
As for the women, their sarees are usually tied in a kuddupaita style, where the pallu or the decorative end of the saree is draped over the right shoulder rather than the left shoulder.
The womenfolk will draw the kolam, called muggulu in Telugu, at the house entrance using coloured rice or desiccated coconut.
“They will also light up nanda deepa (earthen oil lamps) and deepappu semmelu (kuttuvilakku in Tamil),” he said.
Vengkataramana (seated right) and Letchmy (on his right) looking at the children lighting oil lamps in preparation for Deepavali.
Vengkataramana, who is also the Penang/Seberang Prai branch chairman of the Telugu Association of Malaysia says soon after blessing his children at home, the family will offer prayers at the Krishna Temple in Seberang Jaya.
As for Letchmy, she will prepare several unique Telugu dishes such as gonggoraa (sour vegetables), guttuvongkai (spicy brinjals) and muthaapappu (steamed dhall paste) along with other vegetarian items for lunch.
“My relatives and I will also prepare Telugu sweetmeats such as burulu, arusulu and thee-pugarulu, apart from the usual laddu, halwa and mysore pak,” she says.
The couple’s nephew P. Ramaraoo, 35, says the Telugus, whose ancestors originated from Andhra Pradesh in South India, formed the second largest Indian community in Malaysia after the Tamils from Tamil Nadu."
There are about 3,000 Telugus in Penang out of a population of 300,000 Telugus nationwide.
“The Telugu Association of Malaysia conducts programmes in all 30 branches in the country to preserve the rich Telugu culture and language,” he says..
