Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s Old City was decked up as celebrations for the two-day annual Bonalu festival began on Sunday, August 9, amid tight security.
Large crowds of devotees, mainly women carrying bonams or earthen pots decorated with neem leaves and a small lamp, queued up in front of Sri Simhavahini Mahankali Temple at Lal Darwaza and temples in Sultan Shahi, Hari Bowli and Uppuguda, to get a glimpse of Goddess Mahankali. Devotees offered cooked rice mixed with milk, jaggery and curd to her.
The festival will conclude on Monday, August 10, with traditional ghatam processions passing through historic areas including Charminar and Shahalibanda before culminating at the Nayapool immersion point near the Musi River.
Several major routes leading to Lal Darwaza Temple, Charminar, Gulzar House, Aliabad, Nagulchinta, Gowlipura, Chatrinaka, Moghalpura, Khilwath, Nayapul and Laad Bazaar will witness traffic diversions throughout the celebrations. The diversions will remain in force until the Bonalu processions conclude.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy of Coal and Mines and several other leaders extended greetings to the people on the occasion of the festival.
“On the occasion of Bonalu festival, which stands as a symbol of Telangana’s culture and tradition, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy extended greetings to the people of the state,” the Telangana CMO said in a post on ‘X’.
Telangana Ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Konda Surekha and Dansari Anasuya (Seethakka), along with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud and other Congress leaders, visited temples and offered prayers to the goddess.
Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Kishan Reddy offered prayers at different temples in the city.
BRS working president KT Rama Rao, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao and actor Vijay Deverakonda were also among those who offered prayers.
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