India's festival calendar

Karnataka · September/October

Dasara

Karnataka's ten-day state festival built around the Mysuru Palace, culminating in a torch-lit procession where a bejewelled elephant carries the Chamundeshwari idol through the old city.

Karnataka · February/March

Mahashivaratri

A night of fasting and temple vigil devoted to Shiva, observed with lingam abhisheka and all-night bhajans at temples across the state.

Karnataka · March/April

Bengaluru Karaga

One of Bengaluru's oldest living festivals, where a priest of the Thigala community carries a towering flower pyramid on his head through the old city streets before dawn.

Karnataka · November–March

Kambala

A traditional buffalo race run through flooded, slushy paddy fields across coastal Karnataka, timed to the post-harvest season.

Karnataka · November

Hampi Utsava

A three-day cultural festival staged amid Hampi's Vijayanagara-era ruins, with dance, music and light shows set against the boulder-strewn landscape.

Karnataka · February (biennial)

Marikamba Jatre

Sirsi's biennial fair honouring Goddess Marikamba, centred on two towering wooden temple chariots pulled through the town.

Karnataka · August/September

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ten days of clay Ganesha idols installed in homes and public pandals, ending with immersion processions through the streets.

Karnataka · October/November

Deepavali

The festival of lights, marked with oil lamps, rangoli at the doorstep, and fireworks across every town and village.

Karnataka · April/May

Basava Jayanti

The birth anniversary of the 12th-century poet-philosopher Basavanna, marked with processions and recitations of his Vachana poetry.

Karnataka · October–May

Bhoota Aradhane

Coastal Karnataka's ancestral spirit-worship ritual, where a costumed performer becomes the vessel for a bhoota, a guardian spirit, to bless and counsel the village.

Karnataka · March/April

Ugadi

The Kannada New Year, greeted with a taste of bevu-bella, neem and jaggery, as a reminder that the year ahead holds both bitterness and sweetness.