Telangana Grandly Celebrates State Festival Bonalu; CM KCR Prays For State’s Prosperity

Telangana celebrated the festival Bonalu today with loads of zeal and euphoria. The festival is dedicated to Hindu goddess Mahakali and is marked to ward off evil and usher in peace and harmony.

While the women cook rice with milk and jaggery in new brass or earthen pots and then carry them on their heads to offer it to Hindu goddess, the artists dress up as various goddesses and mythological characters in the processions and also perform various acts to mark the celebration of the festival.

CM visited the Mahankali Temple along with his wife and offered special poojas. The Bonalu festival is being celebrated at the Temple on a grand scale. KCR said that he had prayed to the Goddess for the development of Telangana state and the prosperity and health of the people. He prayed the Goddess to bless the State with adequate rains and good crops. He said that the blessings of the Goddess would always be there for the people of the State. He said that the Bonalu jathara is being celebrated as a State festival. On arrival at the temple earlier, the Temple committee members accorded him a grand reception and at the end of the prayers, they offered theerthan and Prasadam to the couple.

Daughter of CM KCR, MP Kavitha, also carried earthen pots on her head and congratulated people of the state.

“Bonalu and Batukamma are two indigenous Telangana festivals, which are celebrated with great reverence among villages of Telangana in great numbers. Almost every household of Telangana celebrates Bonalu or Batukamma. This is absolutely indigenous and an age old festival of Telangana. After the formation of Telangana state, Telangana state government has given a state festival status to the Bonalu festival. We wish all the Telangana people very hearty congratulations on the Bonalu festival,” said Kavitha. 

After Telangana was announced as India’s 29th state, on 2nd June, 2014, it’s the first grand state festival celebrated in the state and its capital Hyderabad.