Overview

The India Poop War, formally known as the Pidakala War or Pidakala Samaram, is an annual festival involving a mud fight held in the village of Kairuppala, Aspari in the Kurnool district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The event is derived from Hindu folklore, taking place the day after the spring festival Ugadi, showcasing a symbolic cow dung war that arose after a mythological marriage dispute between the goddess Bhadrakali and Lord Veerabhadraswamy (a fearsome form of the Hindu god Shiva). Online, the so-called "India poop war" has been a viral topic on X / Twitter since as early as 2018, with people reacting to it by sharing memes and jokes related to the "poop" used as a weapon during the religious celebration.

Background

According to an article published by the Daily Mail^[1] on April 9th, 2019, the Pidakala War is a yearly tradition in the village of Kairuppala in Kurnool in southern India in which members of rival villages gather to fight for the goddess Bhadrakali and Lord Veerabhadraswamy by throwing cow dung at each other. The annual cow dung fight^[2] is believed to be a ritual to bring good health, as well as rain and prosperity to the village.

On March 31st, 2018, the YouTube^[3] channel Newsflare posted a video of the Pidakala War festival (seen below), which amassed roughly 11,000 views and 60 likes in six years.

Online Reactions

Footage from the Pidakala War festival has recurrently gone viral on the internet since the late 2010s into the 2020s, often sparking shocked reactions, memes and jokes related to the cow dung fight.

For instance, on April 19th, 2019, the Facebook^[6] page @BabylonFM uploaded a video showing the Pidakala War festival (seen below), which received roughly 3,400 views and 89 comments in five years.

On April 15th, 2021, X^[7] page @politicturk uploaded footage of the Ugadi festival, writing the event occurred during the peak of COVID-19 cases in India, where the number of daily cases had exceeded 200,000. The video amassed more than 1,700 likes and 1,100 reposts in three years.

On October 28th, 2024, X^[4] user @AsianDigest shared a video of the festival, writing, "Poop War in India," which amassed over 52 million views in two days.

On October 29th, 2024, X^[5] user @cubanxlee posted the Gia Crying meme with the caption, "No community note?" as a reaction to the Pidakala War footage uploaded by the account @AsianDigest. The tweet received more than 130,000 likes and 7,800 reposts in a day.

Search Interest

External References