HAPPY BONALU The entire Secunderabad wore a festive look as thousands of devotees thronged Sri Ujjaini and several other Mahankali temples on Sunday on the occasion of Ashadha Jatara Bonalu festival, a major festival of Telangana state.The whole of Lashkar (Secunderabad) reverberated to the chants of Goddess Mahankali. Bonalu is an important Hindu festival dedicated to Goddess Shakti and is held in the Hindu calendar month of Ashadham every year. The festival is celebrated to ward off evil and usher in peace and harmony.Lashkar Bonalu began in the early hours of Sunday with a large number of devotees, especially women dressed in their best traditional attire carried ‘’Bonam’’ (a pot carrying rice, turmeric powder, jaggery and curd, and covered with neem leaves and a lamp placed on it) on their heads and offered the same to Goddess Mahankali at various temples in Secunderabad. All Mahankali temples, small and big, teemed with devotees and decorated with neem and mango leaves. In the evening, these places of worship glittered under colourful decorative lights. The lanes of Secunderabad were filled with processions of devotees and carrying of ghatams. Separate queues were arranged for the convenience of devotees carrying Bonalu and aged persons.‘Potharajus’, accompanied with ‘’teen maar’’ beats and Telugu folk songs reverberated every lane and bylane.Telangana and Andhra Pradesh chief ministers K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu, and a host of ministers, MPs, MLAs and VIPs offered prayers at the Ujjaini Mahakali Temple in Secunderabad.Chandrasekhar Rao said that Telangana state became a reality due to the blessings of Goddess Mahakali. He prayed for bountiful rains in the state for good agricultural produce and see that people in live peace and prosperity. Naidu, who has been visiting the temple for the past 20 years, also offered prayers and prayed for more rains so that farmers can grow their crops. He hoped that two states, which are facing a plethora of problems, would overcome them with the blessings of Mahakali. Devotees from surrounding districts Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Medak and Mahbubnagar too visited the temples and offered prayers. The devotees also thronged different Mahankali temples located at Ramgopalpet, Pan Bazar, Mettuguda, Bhoiguda, RP Road, MG Road, Paradise and Ranigunj. The festival will conclude on Monday with ‘Rangam’ (foretelling the future) by a young unmarried woman 9.30 am on July 14, followed by a procession with the Mahankali idol atop a decorated elephant. It will commence at 10.30 am and pass though the main streets of Secunderabad up to Mettuguda along with Ghatams and Potharajus performing exercises to the tunes. The deity at Sri Ujjaini Mahankali temple was installed in 1815 by devotees from Ujjain in Madhya
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 04:57:28 +0000
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