KURNOOL: In a rare and vibrant tradition, the villagers of Santhekudlur, located on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, marked the Holi festival in a unique way on Friday.
For generations, this rural community has celebrated the festival with a special custom where men dress in women’s clothing, including silk sarees and modern Punjabi dresses, and visit the Rathi Manmadha temple to offer prayers.
The two-day celebration began on Friday and continued through Saturday, with men in women’s attire visiting the temple alongside their families.
During the festival, they offer silk clothes to Lord Rathi Manmadha, seeking his blessings. It is believed that wearing female attire during the darshan brings divine favour. In an interesting twist, it is the wives who prepare their husbands for this dress-up ritual.
G Rajesh, a devotee from the village, shared that this tradition has been practised for centuries. Though settled in Kurnool, he and his wife return to Santhekudluru each year to take part in the Holi celebrations. Elderly villagers, like K Venkatramudu, emphasised that this custom of worshipping Rathi Manmadha in women’s attire has been passed down through generations, making it a deeply rooted cultural practice for the village’s roughly 700 families.