Hyderabad, Aug 9 (IANS) Devotees thronged Mahankali temples in Hyderabad on Sunday as the annual ‘Bonalu’ festival was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety.
Special prayers were held at the Simhavahini Mahankali temple in Lal Darwaza in the old city of Hyderabad on the occasion of the 118th annual Bonalu celebrations.
Ministers and leaders from various political parties offered prayers at Mahankali Temple, Lal Darwaza, the historic Akkanna Madanna temple at Hari Bowli in Shah Ali Banda and other temples to the deity in different parts of the city.
The festival dedicated to the Goddess of power, Mahankali or Kali, is intended to ward off evil and usher in peace.
Tollywood actors Vijay Deverakonda and Anand Deverakonda and director Sandeep Reddy Vanga were among prominent personalities who offered prayers at Lal Darwaza temple.
Talking to media persons, Vijay Deverakonda greeted people on Bonalu. He said they offered prayers in the name of Sandeep Reddy’s production house ‘Bhadrakali’. He said he was happy to visit the temple for the first time and seek the blessings of the Goddess.
State Endowment Minister Konda Surekha and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud and MP Anil Kumar Yadav offered prayers at Lal Darwaza temple.
The ministers offered silk robes on behalf of the state government. Endowments Commissioner Hanumantha Rao, Police Commissioner Sajjanar, Hyderabad Collector Priyanka Ala, and others were also present.
Earlier, the ministers and TPCC chief offered prayers at Bhagyalaxmi temple at Charminar.
State Minister for Industries and IT, D. Sridhar Babu, offered prayers at Akanna Madanna Mahankali temple in the old city. He, on behalf of the state government, offered silk robes to the deity.
Panchayat Raj Minister Seethakka and government advisor V. Hanumantha Rao offered prayers at Mahankali temple at Amberpet. They also offered silk robes on behalf of the state government.
Seethakka said they offered prayers for bountiful rain and prosperity of the people.
Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy and his wife offered prayers at the Amberpet temple. He told the media that he offered prayers for the well-being of the people.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, performed puja at the Nallapochamma temple at Madannapet.
State Health Minister Damodar Raj Narasimha offered prayers at Darbar Maisamma temple in Karwan area.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao visited the Bhagyalaxmi temple at Charminar and the Lal Darwaza temple and offered prayers.
State BJP president N. Ramchander Rao visited the Sri Ujjaini Mahankali Ammavari Temple in Malkajgiri and performed special puja.
Devotees, including a large number of women, queued up at the temples to offer Bonalu, which consists of cooked rice, jaggery, curd and turmeric water, carried in steel and clay pots on their heads.
Declared the state festival after the creation of Telangana state in 2014, Bonalu is being celebrated on a large scale with pomp and gaiety.
Various government departments have made all necessary arrangements for devotees visiting the temples, like drinking water, sanitation, roads and uninterrupted power supply.
Police made elaborate security arrangements for the festival. Over 2,000 policemen were deployed around the temples.
The two-day festivities will conclude on Monday with ‘Rangam’, the oracle prediction at Akkanna Madanna temple, followed by a combined procession on a caparisoned elephant, carrying ‘ghatam’ of the Goddess Mahankali.
The procession will pass through the main thoroughfares of the old city, including historic Charminar, before reaching Delhi Darwaza Matha Temple near the Musi River, where the ghatam will be immersed.
Authorities ordered the closure of liquor shops, bars, restaurants, and toddy outlets in Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Commissionerates in view of the festival.
Bonalu is celebrated in parts of Hyderabad and Secunderabad during the Ashadam month. Also known as Ashada Jatra Utsavalu, it is celebrated on four Sundays in different places in the twin cities. Last Sunday, it was celebrated in Secunderabad, where Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy made the offering.
It is believed that the festival was first celebrated over 150 years ago following a major cholera outbreak. People believed the epidemic was due to the anger of Mahankali and began offering Bonalu to placate her.
–IANS
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