Like every year, the festival of Bonalu starts today at Golconda Fort. it moves to the Balkampet Yellamma temple in Balkampet, and the Ujjaini Mahakali Temple in Secunderabad. On the third Sunday, it moves to the Pochamma and Katta Maisamma temples of Chilkalguda and the Mateshwari temple of Lal Darwaza in Hyderabad.
The festival goes on for 9 weeks.
Followed by Akkanna Madanna temple in Haribowli, and Muthyalamma temple in Shah Ali Banda also witness Bonalu celebrations. Devotees wear traditional attire and lots of jewelry and assemble to pay obeisance to Goddess Mahakali.
Goats are sacrificed for God and cooked as Prasadam. Liquor and toddy are also offered to God and later consumed. Minister for Animal Husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav is monitoring the festivities.
CM KCR might attend the festivities at Mahankali Temple in Secunderabad.
The youth and ladies dance to the tune of Theen maar band and take a procession to the Temples. Potharajulu cut the throat of goats and call it as Gau. They take a bite on the throat of goats and make the sacrifice.
Dedicated to Goddess Mahankali the Bonalu festival is celebrated every year in the southern Indian state of Telangana, specifically in the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
This year, Bonalu began at Golkonda and will continue till July 24.
The origin of the festival can be traced back to 19th-century Hyderabad. In 1813, a plague broke out in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and claimed many lives.
A military battalion from Hyderabad, deployed in Ujjain, learned of this and prayed to Goddess in the Mahankali Temple to rid the cities of the plague, following which they would start worshipping her by installing her idol.
It is essentially a commemoration of the Goddess, to appease her and to thank her for fulfilling wishes. Besides, Yellamma, other forms of the Goddess like Maisamma, Pochamma, Peddamma, Dokkalamma, Ankalamma, Poleramma, Maremma, and Nookalamma, are worshipped during this period.
