The annual festival kicked off with the state government offering the traditional silk clothes to the Goddess Mahankali at the Matha Jagadamba Mahankali temple.
The annual Bonalu festival kicked off at the historic Golconda Fort in the Old City on Sunday with the Telangana state government offering the traditional silk clothes to the Goddess Mahankali at the Matha Jagadamba Mahankali temple there.
Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy, Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Excise Minister T Padma Rao Goud participated in the ritual and paid obeisance at the temple. The ministers attended the special pujas conducted on the occasion and prayed the goddess to shower bountiful rains and help the people develop.
A grand procession was also taken out from Lal Darwaja in the Old City with a large number of devotees carrying the traditional thottellu, artistes in multiple attires, pothurajus dancing to the tunes of drums and women clad to mark the festive occasion standing out.
The government was spending Rs 15 crores for the festival this year as against Rs 10 crores last year, Indrakaran Reddy said. Srinivas Yadav said that the government had made elaborate arrangements for the festival to be conducted in a smooth manner, and that adequate police personnel had been deployed for the peaceful conduct of the event.
filed in:Telangana, Bonalu, Festivals, Celebrations, Hinduism, Indrakaran Reddy, Golconda Fort