Two-Day Bonalu Jathara In Secunderabad From July 9

The two-day Bonalu festival, one of the biggest festivals of Telangana that attracts lakhs of people from all over the state, will begin in the Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad on July 9.

Minister for Animal Husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav on Wednesday reviewed the arrangements being made for the festival with the officials of various departments. City Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, GHMC Commissioner Dr B Janardhan Reddy, City Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy and other senior police and municipal officials attended the meeting.

The vibrant Bonalu festival and jathara are normally held during the month of Ashadha, wherein devotes, mostly women, offer cooked rice and jaggery to goddess Mahankali as thanksgiving. Though the festival kickstarts on the first Sunday of Ashadam at the Durga temple in Golconda, the two-day festival commencing in the Ujjaini Mahankali temple on the second Sunday of Ashadha heralds the festivities in the other mother goddess temples all over Secunderabad. The festival concludes with a mammoth procession from the Matheswari temple in Lal Darwaja on the third Sunday.

The Bonalu jathara traces its origin back to 1813 when the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad suffered from an epidemic of the plague. Thousands of people were stated to have been affected and died in the epidemic, which was spreading dangerously. Then the belief originated that the epidemic was due to the curse of goddess Mahankali, who was angered by the locals. To appease the goddess people then began offering prayers and food (bhojanalu, that eventually became bonalu), and the epidemic is said to gone away because of that.

Thus, to this day the people of Telangana celebrate this festival and express their gratitude for the well-being bestowed on them by goddess Mahankali.