Bonalu festival in Hyderabad to begin on June 26

Hyderabad: The month-long Bonalu festival, which is one of Telangana’s most colourful and traditional festivals, will start this year on June 26. Special pujas and rituals will kick-start the festivities at the ancient Sri Yellamma (Jagadambika) Temple inside Golconda Fort in Hyderabad.

Bonalu, the local name for the festival, is observed by the devotees with great fervor and pomp. It is usually held on the Thursday or Sunday after the first full moon day of the Ashada month. As the new moon is on June 25 this year, the festival will formally start the next day, Thursday, June 26.

After the inaugural festivities at Golconda, Bonalu celebrations will go on at different Mahakali temples in the city. Foremost among them are the Ujjaini Mahakali Temple in Secunderabad and the Lal Darwaja Mahakali Temple in the Hyderabad’s Old City, which will have big Bonalu events in the weeks that follow.

The festivities will end on the final day of the Ashada month with a concluding puja at the Yellamma Temple inside Golconda Fort, marking the end to the month-long religious and cultural observance.

Bonalu is characterized by women taking decorated pots (bonam) to the temples as an offering to Goddess Mahakali, accompanied by folk music, dances, and processions. This festival indicates the age-old devotion of people and their culture.