Hyderabad: Telangana endowments minister Konda Surekha formally launched the month-long Ashada Bonalu festival at Jagadambika temple in Golconda Forts on Sunday, July 7.
The state welcomed this year’s Bonalu festival with elaborate arrangements. A coordination committee with officials of various government departments, including the Hyderabad city police commissioner Kothakota Srinivasa Reddy and district collector Anudeep Durishetty, had visited the Jagadambika temple atop Golconda Fort and reviewed the festival arrangements on Friday, July 5.
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The Bonalu of Golconda will be followed by Lashkar Bonalu, which is held at Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad. The festivities will conclude at Sri Simhavahini Mahankali temple in Lal Darwaza and at Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali temple in Haribowli in the old city of Hyderabad.
In Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana, devotees, especially women, make offerings to goddesses in the form of food in specially decorated pots to celebrate Bonalu.
It is commonly believed that the festival was first celebrated over 150 years ago following a major Cholera outbreak. People believed that the epidemic was due to the anger of Mahankali and began offering Bonalu to placate her.
Telangana Transport and BC Welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar, who is also the minister-in-charge of Hyderabad city, also attended the launch
